Ancestral Ties
by Heera Malhotra
Summary: Artemis and Anna Maria want to be together, but there appears to be an old curse that won't let them! Can they break it when so many others before them failed? AFxOC Please R and R!
1. Birthday Girl

_**Okay, let me establish a few things because I'm sure that at least a third of you have never read one of my other fics. Anna-Maria is half-human and half-elf; was born through In Vitro fertilization to an Italian actress by a sperm from Julius Root (Foaly stole one for an experiment and lost track of it, and it ended up in the hospital where Anna-Maria's mother was.). She has all the typical fairy powers and two psychic ones (telekinesis and the ability to manipulate and create images) that she inherited from her mother's side of the family; she doesn't use them much. She has green eyes and dark brown hair, looks nothing like her mother did (died in a car accident when Anna-Maria was six) and what Julius would have looked like if he was a pretty girl. She became commander of the LEP on her fourteenth birthday; after Foaly finished DNA tests and told her Julius was her father. Okay, if you're still here, please read and review and know that I am never going to type an author's note this long again! Oh, and I'm not Eoin Colfer, therefore I don't own Artemis or any character that belongs to Eoin Colfer.**_

Anna-Maria sighed as she tucked her neutrino into her sheath. "Going to work on your birthday?" She spun around, arms up, legs apart; ready to fight. "Oh, Holly." She put her arms down. "What are you doing here?"

The Section Eight captain gave her a half-smile. "I believe the question is 'why are you going to work on your birthday?' And can't I just drop by to say hello and offer my congratulations?"

"I have a job to do, Holly; crime never takes a vacation. Just because I'm the commander of the LEP it doesn't mean I can play hooky. And congratulations for what?"

"You're twenty years-old today, Anna-Maria!"

"So? I've never acted like the average teenager." The dark-haired girl pointed out as she grabbed her helmet off the kitchen counter.

"Boy, you can say that again." Holly muttered under her breath. "I thought you were going to meet Artemis today. It is the sixth anniversary of the first time you met, after all."

"What made you think I was going to meet Artemis today?" Anna-Maria asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The thirty-two voice-mails he left on your answering machine."

"What thirty-two messages?" Anna-Maria asked. Her answering machine suddenly turned on and a recording of Artemis's voice filled the room.

"Those ones." Holly replied.

"Oh. I – I uh…" The twenty year-old girl's voice trailed off.

Holly rolled her eyes. "When are you meeting him?"

"At two 'o' clock." Anna-Maria reddened.

Holly looked at her watch. "It's only ten. Are you sure you can't just get Trouble to cover for you till you get back?"

"I can, but I'd rather go for now. Speaking of Trouble, how is he?"

This time Holly reddened. "How would I know? You're his commanding officer, not me."

Anna-Maria smiled, making Holly slightly uneasy. Anna-Maria didn't smile like that very often, but she reminded her of Artemis Fowl when she did. "You talk to him, don't you?"

"No, what makes you think that?"

"The several text messages and the caller ID on your cellular phone." Anna-Maria replied calmly.

"When did you see my cell-phone?"

Anna-Maria's smile widened as she lifted her right hand, showing her the phone in her palm. "Just now. Your most recent call was made fifteen minutes ago."

Holly tried to be angry, but a smile crept across her face anyway. "You have only grown to be more mischievous over the years, Anna-Maria…mischievous, intelligent, and beautiful. But you still dress like a tomboy."

Anna-Maria tossed her the cell-phone. "That's because I'm still a tomboy, you know that. Personally, I'd rather be a tomboy than a complete girly girl like Lili Frond at any rate."

"Hmmm…good point." Holly said, pocketing her cell-phone as the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?"

"Maybe the young elf next door sent you some flowers."

"I hope not; I'd hate to throw them back in his face." Anna-Maria replied as she laid her hand on the doorknob.

Holly just rolled her eyes and smiled to herself. "Same old Anna-Maria as always."

Anna-Maria opened the door and managed not to gape. "Chix Verbil, who gave you my address?"

The sprite grinned as he replied, "Now Anna-Maria, what kind of greeting is that? Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Not particularly. And need I remind you that I am not a child living in the care of the LEP anymore; I am your commanding officer?"

"I know it, Anna-Maria. You don't look like a child, I'll tell you that much. Besides, I'm off duty."

"Oh Frond, someone tell Chix to shut his maw before he gets hurt!" Holly prayed quietly.

"Why are you here, Chix?" Anna-Maria asked him.

"To give you your birthday present, of course."

"What is it?" She asked, not really wanting to know.

Chix smiled and winked. "Just a quick kiss, Anna-Maria. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody if you don't want me to. It will be our little secret."

Anna-Maria frowned. "On second thought, I think I'll give you a present, Chix."

"Whatever floats your boat, sweetheart." Chix said, closing his eyes and leaning forward. "I'm ready for you."  
Holly winced softly as Anna-Maria punched him squarely in the jaw and watched as he toppled backwards and fell on his back on the hallway floor. The half-fairy girl shook her head in annoyance and stepped over him as she left, looking over her shoulder to add, "I'll see you later, Holly."

The red-headed elf nodded and turned her attention to Chix, who was rubbing his chin with a look of disbelief on his face. "Ouch, what was that for? I thought she would have liked my present."

"Holy Frond, Verbil, don't you know Anna-Maria even remotely by now? She's knocked out guys like you for less than what you did. Lesson one of the LEP; never flirt with your commanding officer!" She said, extending an arm to help him up.

Chix took it. "Thanks Holly, I should have known I could count on you. You always did have a soft spot for me."

Holly noticed the twinkle in his eye and let go of his hand, letting him fall to the floor a second time. "Lesson two, never flirt with me either!"

_**Sorry for that really long author's note in the beginning; this one will be short. Please review because it will make my day and I hope you like this chapter/story!**_


	2. Typical Daily Occurences

_**This chapter is more about Artemis…and a bit about Anna-Maria. PLEASE REVIEW!**_

Artemis found himself continuously stopping in front of mirrors and checking his hair all morning. This did not go unobserved by his bodyguard, who asked him at one point, "When is Anna-Maria coming to the Manor?"

The male genius frowned. "When did I say she was coming to the manor?"

Butler raised an eyebrow at him. "You didn't, at least, not verbally. But you have today's date marked on your calendar as her birthday and this is the fifth time you have stopped to look at your hair; which, by the way, is perfectly fine."

Artemis sighed. "It never was easy to keep anything from you, old friend. Anna-Maria is coming in a few hours, at two 'o' clock."

"And?"

Artemis looked up at him. "And what?"

Butler rolled his eyes. "You know what. You're not a boy anymore, Artemis, you're an adult. Why is Anna-Maria coming over?"

"Butler, I keep seeing her everywhere. Everywhere I look, I can see her. And at night, when I close my eyes, it is as if she is in the room with me. But then she disappears as soon as I open my eyes again."

"So? You've been seeing…visions like that since you first hit puberty. Infatuations are common, remember? I doubt Anna-Maria will be very happy if you call her here on a boyish fancy."

"Butler, this is not an infatuation." Artemis said quietly. "I was only fourteen then, still a boy. I am now twenty-one; I know what my heart is telling me now."

"Have you been reading those romance novels I borrowed from Minerva?"

"I am serious, Butler. What bothers me is that I do not know how Anna-Maria feels."

"Artemis, if everyone in the world knew what everyone else felt, there would be no need for conversation or interrogation and life would be tedious."

Artemis lifted his chin off his fist and smiled. "And yet, I am the certified genius in this situation."

"So are you going to give her your present as soon as she gets here or wait a little while before you ask her?"

Artemis frowned and looked puzzled. "Ask her what?"

"The question you've wanted to ask her since your twenty-first birthday a few months ago."

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Anna-Maria frowned as she tried to find an empty spot on her desk. It was a good thing to be well-loved as a commander, but it meant a lot of cards. And on Valentine's Day, hundreds. She picked one up and raised an eyebrow. "Grub Kelp sent me a card?" She flipped it open and read the inscription. "'To my favorite commander, I wish you a happy twentieth birthday and happiness for the rest of your life. P.S. Mommy says I need a raise because I will have to support a family soon.'" Her eyebrows creased as she wondered what to make of the card. "That was…odd. Oh, here's Holly's. 'Dear Anna-Maria, despite our little scuffles and pranks, I have always thought of you as a little sister. Now I guess you're not so little anymore; Julius would be proud of you, I know I am. Love, Holly. P.S. Look up.' Huh?" Anna-Maria looked up. "What does that mean?"

The Section Eight captain opened the door and smiled. "Hey, Anna-Maria, I see you've read my card."

"Holly, what do you mean by your postscript?"

"Exactly what I wrote. Look up."

"Yes, but look up at what?"

Holly grinned and tilted the girl's chin upwards. "At that."

Anna-Maria's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as her eyes took in a poster-size photograph of her kissing Artemis Fowl's cheek that was stapled to the ceiling. "WHAT. IS. THAT?!"

"Happy birthday, Fairy-girl." Holly said, closing Anna-Maria's mouth for her. "Amazing what you can do with two photographs and a computer. You'd think it was actually authentic!"

Anna-Maria sighed. "Please tell me you haven't showed this to anyone."

"Only to Foaly, it was his computer, after all." Holly grinned. "So when were you going to ask Artemis about what he was planning for your birthday today?"

"He wants it to be a surprise. Don't you have work today?" Anna-Maria asked, purposefully changing the subject.

"No, today is my day off. By the way, Commander Vinyaya is in the lobby; she's got a long box with her that looks like it came from a dress shop."

"Not another red evening gown?! The last time I wore one, I ended up sprawled on the floor of a restaurant with blood flowing like a river down the gown."

"Don't remind me." Holly shuddered. "I ran out of magic to heal you with, remember? Artemis had to heal you himself with that magic he stole from the time tunnel."

"Oh no, back to the subject of Artemis." Anna-Maria muttered to herself. "Okay, Holly, stop beating around the bush, what are you trying to tell me?"

"I am trying to tell you something so obvious you should have realized it already!" Holly exclaimed. "How obvious does Artemis have to make it that he's in love with you?"

"Holly, don't be ridiculous. It was just something he wrote in a diary entry six years ago. These things change. I've got a better chance of marrying Chix Verbil…okay, never mind. Just completely forget that I even thought that, let alone said it."

Holly blinked for a moment before shaking her head to clear it. "You haven't had anything too sugary this morning, have you? Besides, if Artemis doesn't love you, why are you his girlfriend?"

"I'm not his girlfriend." Anna-Maria replied huffily. The elfin captain raised one eyebrow at her silently. "Okay, I am! But I'm his friend first, then his girlfriend."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. And I was once asked to enter the most prestigious beauty contest under the world." She said sarcastically.

Anna-Maria raised an eyebrow at _her_ and said, "And _I_ may have a high amount of glucose in my blood this morning? How can you expect me to be so in touch with my feelings on the very day I turn twenty?"

"You're a genius; I think that's reason enough. Don't even _you_ know how you feel?"

The half-human girl grinned impishly. "Of course I do. What you should be asking is if I intend to disclose those feelings to others."

Holly frowned and held her head in her hands, mumbling, "Genii. Can't survive with them; can't survive without them."

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Artemis frowned as he pushed on his study door. It was ajar, and he never left it unlocked when it was unoccupied. Only he and Butler had the key – although that was what lock picks were for. He smiled his vampire smile as he noticed a stray strand of blond hair caught between the desk and drawer. "David? Diana? Your game is over, come out."

A girl with blond hair and bright blue eyes came out from behind a row of computers as a boy with hair of the same color and brown eyes stuck his head out of a closet. These were his twin siblings, David (affectionately called Davy as a toddler, and still called so sometimes by his mother), and Diana Fowl. Coincidentally, both happened to be genii; although Diana was clearly the more serious of the two whilst David was more sociable and fun-loving.

Artemis tapped his foot impatiently as the two of them made their way to where he stood. "Have you two not been told not to enter my study?"

"Yes, approximately seventy-nine times before. Counting now, that would be eighty." Diana replied, trying not to grin.

"And that does not include the times you have also added 'My study has several imperative files and projects I am working on. If I permit you two to enter my study, you may, unintentionally, disrupt that work.'" David added.

"Have you recorded that in your own memory or an audio file of some sort?"

The twins looked at one another for a moment before replying simultaneously, "Both."

"Really?" Artemis asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes. And there are three more photographs of Anna-Maria than there were last week in your top drawer." Diana replied smugly.

Artemis frowned. "I thought I locked that drawer."

"You did." David contributed. "We had to make our own lock picks to open it; same goes for the door. The ring was a nice choice by the way. Silver goes better with her eyes than gold – or at least that's my opinion."

Artemis ignored the second part of his reply. "How many times have you two been in here?"

"Several."

"How many approximately?" He rephrased.

"According to which year?" David asked.

"This one."

"Roughly seventy-two times."

"It's only March."

"Exactly."

"Do I need to notify Butler that the security in this room requires a lot of improvement?"

"No." Diana replied. "You only need to worry about genii getting past the system – or someone with fairy technology at least. Not including Anna-Maria of course. Speaking of Anna-Maria, are you prepared for her arrival? I recommend the garden."

"Do your rooms not have windows looking over the garden?"

"Yes, that's the point." David responded.

"What exactly are you hoping to catch a glimpse of?"

"The expression on Anna-Maria's face when you propose to her today."

_**Poor Artemis…the guy can't get any personal space between the twins and Butler – not to mention his parents. Anna-Maria only has Holly and Foaly (possibly Mulch) to pester her. What do you think Anna-Maria's expression will look like? **_


	3. Proposal Time?

_**I'm back! And more reviews this time please – a lot of you hit on the story but don't say anything. If there's something you don't like, let me know so I can improve. And, thanks to a special suggestion, I have added footnotes with translations for the Italian used.**_

Anna-Maria sighed as she rubbed the tip of her right ear. Her ears were never too dry because she was only half-elf, but that didn't mean they couldn't get flaky every now and again. Fortunately, this wasn't one of those times. Foaly had decided to send an extra-special and extra-loud voice message to her helmet, and the result was ears that were still ringing even after ten minutes. "Oh, that centaur! If he wasn't my godfather I'd fire him, and he knows it!" She muttered as she strapped on her wings and shielded, leaving only a shimmer in the air as she flew at an alarming rate towards Fowl Manor.

As the wind whipped against her face, Anna-Maria thought about what Holly told her. _Do I __**love**__ Artemis? Yes, more than anything. I just can't believe I've turned into one of those fairy-tale princesses, waiting for Prince Charming to speak first; it's ridiculous! Whoever said that love is crazy knew what he was talking about! _

She frowned as a new voice message popped into her mailbox. Fuming silently, she opened it and listened as an unknown voice whispered, "You must break it. Only the strength of the heart must prevail, nothing else." _What? 'Only the strength of the heart…' Who's heart? Prevail as opposed to what? What am I supposed to break? _She opened her mike and spoke clearly, "Foaly, I just received an unusual voice message. I'm sending it to your computer now. Compare it with your files, identify the speaker. Find out if there could be anything sinister happening; let me know what you find out."

The centaur realized she was serious and nodded. "Got it, I'll filter it digitally and let you listen to it when you get back."

Anna-Maria had an apprehensive feeling. "_If_ I get back." She corrected quietly.

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Artemis frowned as he replayed the audio message. An unfamiliar male voice was saying something that sounded like, "Use the strength of your heart, of your love, to break it. Love prevails over everything else."

His brow furrowed in thought as he pondered. _Use the strength of my love to break what? Something intangible no doubt, but what? _"Butler, can you come here please?"

The huge Eurasian man appeared almost immediately. "Yes, Artemis? What is it?"

The Irish genius hit the 'rewind' button and then clicked 'play'. "Tell me what you think of this message I just received."

The bodyguard leaned in to listen. After a few moments, he said, "Artemis, this may be serious. Is it from anyone you may know?"

"No, I cannot trace the email back to its original source; it is as if it popped up from nowhere…or Limbo."

"The voice sounds slightly familiar."

"Does it?"

"It sounds a bit like your father's…and yours."

Artemis frowned. "Possibly a distant relative?"

"Maybe. But I'd advise you to be careful, Artemis."

"Are you not joining me?"

"I think you need to talk to Anna-Maria alone for once."

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Anna-Maria suddenly felt strange as she neared the manor; as if…her entire life was going to change. Whether it was going to change for the better or worse, she couldn't say. Unshielding, she looked up to find David and Diana running towards her. She smiled and opened her arms as the twins rushed into them, showering her with hugs. "Okay, okay," She said, laughing. "Relax, it hasn't been that long since you saw me last, was it?"

"It has been precisely twenty-eight days, twelve hours, and fifty-five minutes." Diana replied as she gave the LEP commander an extra squeeze.

Anna-Maria's smile grew. "Even after six years, you two haven't changed much in terms of personality."

David grinned at her. "Neither have you."

"Well, thank you…I hope. Where's Artemis?"

The male genius emerged from the manor with a vampire-like smile on his face. "Hello, Anna-Maria, how are you?"

Anna-Maria rolled her eyes and smiled. "Oh, I'm fine, Mr. Fowl. Can't I get a 'It's great to see you, Anna-Maria!' from you? _Scherzo, come va_?" 1

"_Sto bene, e tu?_"2

Diana frowned. "I hate it when they speak in Italian."

"Why? We know Italian." Davy reminded her.

"Yeah, but it's like a signal, or a sign that says 'David and Diana, it's time for you to leave'."

Anna-Maria frowned. "Is this when I speak Italian or when Artemis does?"

"Artemis." The twins replied simultaneously.

Anna-Maria raised an eyebrow at the raven-haired genius. "Oh, really? And why would Artemis want you two to leave? Maybe I should come with you two…"

"NO!"

"Okay! Relax, I'm not coming." Anna-Maria replied, looking slightly bewildered. "I don't want to mess up your three-way secret or anything. Where's your mother?"

"In the manor."

"May I meet her?"

"Not yet."

"Why?"

The twins paused for a moment and looked up at Artemis. "Shouldn't you be answering this question?" Diana asked.

"He needs to ask her a question, Di, not answer one!" David said as he pulled his sister towards the manor. Diana turned to wave at them before her brother dragged her through the front door.

Anna-Maria watched them go for a moment before turning to Artemis. "They really haven't changed, have they? So, what is it that you want to ask me?"

Artemis frowned. "What?"

"David was saying you need to ask me a question." She reminded him.

"Oh, yes. That question…will you accompany me to the cherry orchard?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "That was your question?"

"No, it is not that question. But will you please follow me?" He turned and began to walk along a path that led to a grove of cherry trees. Reluctantly but silently, Anna-Maria followed him.

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"Artemis, this is beautiful!" Anna-Maria exclaimed as they entered the orchard.

Artemis smiled and leaned against the trunk of one of the trees. "I thought you would like it here."

The half-fairy girl just managed to keep herself from jumping into the tree. "I wish we could have real trees – big ones – back in Haven. Too bad the only kind you're likely to find there are bonsai trees. I have them all over my condo." She grinned as cherry blossoms dropped themselves in her hair and brushed a few strands way from one of her pointed ears. "So what was it you wanted to ask me?"

Artemis slowly dropped to one knee and looked up at her. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be for a question." She replied, her bewilderment growing slightly but gradually. "_What_ are you doing?"

"Anna-Maria, will you marry me?"

"_Non capisco. Tu voli a sei mio marito? __Ma, perché?_"3

Artemis looked at her with a slight smile playing about his lips as he took a small box from his pocket and opened it to show her the ring inside. "I think you know why, but you want to hear me say it. Anna-Maria, I love you; will you marry me?"

"I – yes. Yes, I will." She bent down and kissed his cheek. "Oh, and by the way, I love you too."

Artemis smiled as he slipped the ring onto her finger. "Really? You took your time telling me."

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Anna-Maria looked nervous as she and Artemis stood next to the manor's front door. "Should we really tell your parents now? They may not have been expecting it, and…"

"Mother may unintentionally overreact?" Artemis finished for her. "It will not be much compared to Foaly, Mulch, and Holly's reactions."

Anna-Maria was about to agree when her bracelet vibrated. "Why does that centaur always have to call when I'm about to say something?" She demanded of no one in particular as she turned it on. "Yes, Foaly?"

The technical consultant looked pale, for a centaur, as he said, "I enhanced that audio file; you and Mud Boy need to get over here immediately. There's something you need to know."

_**-Gasp!- What does Foaly have to tell them? PLEASE REVIEW if you want to read more!**_

1 I'm kidding, how are you?

2 I'm doing well, and you?

3 I don't understand. You want to marry me? But why?


	4. Robert and Catalina

_**Why do I feel this is going to be a very long fic? Please leave a REVIEW, please! Oh my gosh; I'm practically begging here! Such indignity is beneath me!**_

Anna-Maria frowned at Artemis and asked, "Are you okay? Remember, I have had my Haven license for a few years now."

The male genius nodded and exhaled slowly. "I was simply pondering what Foaly could have to tell us. He was clearly worried when he called."

Anna-Maria nodded and continued to steadily maneuver the shuttle. "Maybe we'll get lucky and he's just being his normal paranoid self."

Artemis raised an eyebrow at her. "You really think so?"

She kept her eyes on the highway as she replied, "Absolutely not. My karma appears to be as bad as yours, maybe worse. And no," She added before Artemis could say anything. "I don't believe in karma and such supernatural nonsense, but many of the People do."

"Do you not find that slightly ironic? Telekinesis is a supernatural power, after all." He pointed out.

Anna-Maria glanced at him for a moment. "True, but half the time I forget I even have that power." She jammed her foot down on the brakes and mentally held the male genius back in order to prevent him from crashing through the front of the LEP shuttle.

"I'm assuming this is not one of those times." Artemis remarked as he noticed her silver irises.

She silently unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door. She turned back to look at him, just barely hiding her worry. "Are you coming?"

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Anna-Maria frowned at the centaur. "Foaly, I think I'm allergic to technical consultants who say they need to tell me something important and then won't tell me!" She snapped irritably.

The centaur found himself wringing his hands as Artemis, Anna-Maria, Holly, and Mulch watched him expectantly. "I do have something to tell you. B – But you're not going to like it."

"I didn't exactly like it when you told me that Julius Root was my father four years after his death either, but I obviously survived."

Artemis nudged her gently and whispered, "I know you are as worried as I am, Anna-Maria; let him speak."

She frowned but didn't say anything. He was right, of course. "Okay, Foaly, I'm sorry. What is it?"

The centaur forgot his nervousness and turned to his computer. "I enhanced that audio message you sent me." He clicked a few things, and soon everyone was listening to the message silently.

Artemis looked particularly perturbed. "I received a similar message this morning, but the speaker was male."

Foaly nodded and accessed another file. "I found it in your inbox, Mud Boy." The second message played, adding to the listeners' confusion.

Artemis frowned slightly, but the centaur noticed that it didn't reach his eyes. "Still monitoring me after all these years, Foaly?"

Holly frowned and asked Foaly, "What's going on? Are Artemis and Anna-Maria being stalked?"

Mulch burped. "Does it concern me in any way? If not, can I go now?"

Foaly ignored him. "These messages are very special. The speaker from Anna-Maria's message is Catalina Root, one of her ancestors." Anna-Maria's eyebrows went up, and, although her jaw didn't drop, Holly's did. "And the speaker in Artemis' email is one of his ancestors, a Robert Fowl."

"Foaly, are you crazy?" Holly demanded. "How can dead persons be in contact with anyone, much less their own descendants?"

"Ever heard of ghosts?"

"Robert Fowl and Catalina Root are ghosts?" Artemis inquired. "Is that the situation with all of our ancestors, or merely those two?"

"And why are they contacting us _now_?" Anna-Maria asked.

Foaly sighed. "Robert and Catalina are not ghosts, exactly, more like wandering spirits of the dead. And yes, only those two are ghost-like. I do not know exactly why they are contacting you now, but they clearly want to warn you of something."

"Oh, so now they're not only dead, they're oracles?" Holly asked sarcastically. "Are you sure this isn't just a kid's prank?"

"Dead positive." Foaly replied.

"Nice choice of wording." Mulch retorted.

"Anyway," Foaly continued. "There is something incredibly significant you two need to know about, something that started with Robert and Catalina."

Artemis and Anna-Maria exchanged looks. "What started?" Artemis asked.

"Well, centuries ago –"

"Of course it started centuries ago." Anna-Maria muttered to herself. "Everything that happens to be dramatically life-changing started centuries ago."  
"Catalina and Robert met accidentally centuries ago and –"

"Robert wasn't a caveman, was he?" Everyone turned to glare at Mulch. "Just asking out of curiosity."

"No, Mulch. Robert Fowl was NOT a caveman. This happened around the time of King Frond, maybe a little before that."

"Gee, how romantic." Holly muttered.

"Yes, and since humans and fairies used to intermingle during those days, they kept meeting, and they fell in love."

Anna-Maria's jaw finally dropped. "Don't tell me Artemis and I are distantly related?!"

"NO! Can I please finish without further interruptions?!" The tech booth was quiet as a tomb in a moment. "Thanks. Now, as I was saying, Robert and Catalina fell in love, and when King Frond found out, he ordered their separation.

A group of warlocks mind-wiped Robert and Catalina was forced underground. The warlocks then cast a spell, a curse over the future descendants of Robert and Catalina. No descendants of the two could intermingle or marry. If they tried, the human partner would die within a year of their marriage, or union or whatever. Catalina, who was pretty fair at magic herself, tried to counteract the curse but could only ensure a prophecy; one day a descendant of Robert and one of hers would complete three tasks created by her and succeed in breaking the curse, thus uniting Robert and Catalina herself as well as themselves." He took a deep breath. "Now I'm done."

Anna-Maria frowned. "But Artemis and I have known each other for years, nothing has happened so far."

"Not quite, the curse hasn't been broken yet, even though several descendants before you have tried. Remember the time you were fatally shot?"

Anna-Maria grimaced at the memory. "Minerva did that."

"Yes, but it's a part of the curse nonetheless. And then there's the time the Bentley veered off a cliff and Artemis was trapped on a ledge…"

Artemis' brow creased as he processed this. "Yes, however, my only injury was a small cut above one eye, which Anna-Maria was able to heal."

"Yes, minor workings of the curse. The effects of the curse would only come at full force when a union was proposed. The messages sent were telling you to break the curse before that could happen."

"Huh?" Mulch looked confused.

Artemis and Anna-Maria looked at each other with widened eyes (okay, so only Anna-Maria's eyes widened, but Artemis's should have too). "Oh, no."

Holly spotted Anna-Maria's ring finger. "Anna-Maria? Is that what I think it is?"

"Well…yes, it is."

"Holy Frond!" Foaly exclaimed. "This is terrible! You two can't get married, not with the curse just starting!"

"Foaly," Anna-Maria said quietly. "You are forgetting that I am half-human. Will I die as well?"

"What? Oh, you have fairy blood, so you won't be killed by the curse."

"Well, those were certainly some selfish warlocks." Mulch commented.

Anna-Maria looked as if she agreed with him. "And not very smart ones either. If this curse remains, I can still marry a human, just not Artemis. Foaly, how long after the proposal does the curse begin to strengthen?"

Foaly consulted his computer. "About 48 hours after. You're going to have to be careful, Artemis."

The male genius frowned. "I am no longer a criminal, yet I have to keep my eyes open for supernatural forces that wish to see me dead. How enjoyable."

Anna-Maria put her head on his shoulder. "We won't let that happen, Artemis; _I_ won't let that happen."

"If they're going to get all mushy, someone give me a barf-bag!"

Anna-Maria lifted her head and glared at the tunneling dwarf. "Must I continuously remind you of the time I tricked you into dying your hair blue nearly seven years ago? Foaly, what are the three tasks we need to complete to break the curse?"

The centaur returned to his computer. "Well, Catalina used three powers to guarantee that her prophecy would be fulfilled; the power of the Earth, the power of water, and the power of wind. First, you have to mix tears."

"Tears?"

"Yes. The second task – you have to mix blood, under the light of a full moon."

"And the third task?" Artemis inquired.

Foaly frowned as he read something. "Well, it only says here that the strength of the heart will finally break the curse; there's nothing specific."

"We'll have to figure that out later. We should get started on the first two tasks before we move on." Holly suggested.

"Very well." Artemis agreed. "Task one, we have to mix tears."

_**Well, getting either one of them to cry won't be easy! Please review, please!**_


	5. Task One

_**You know what a new chapter means…new reviews, please! Keep reading and I hope you like my story (although it's obvious I'm no Eoin Colfer).**_

"We may have a very big problem on our hands." Foaly remarked.

"You mean a problem other than the one we already have?" Anna-Maria said.

"Exactly. How are we going to make both you and Artemis cry? Hmm…this doesn't look promising. Why did the first task have to be tears, of all things?!"

"I am not going to weep in a room full of people." Artemis said coolly.

"I'm not crying, period!" Anna-Maria said, pounding the table with a fist, rattling everything on its surface.

"Let me try something." The tunneling dwarf walked up behind Anna-Maria slowly and stomped on her foot, very, very hard.

"OUCH!!! Mulch, you idiot!"

Foaly watched as the unfortunate dwarf was flung into the wall. "Are you alright, Mulch?"

"Oh sure," He groaned. "Give me a few years and we'll see if my spine has realigned properly."

"Oh, sorry, Mulch. I'll heal it." Anna-Maria turned him over and laid a hand on his spine as blue sparks scurried down her fingers. "We need a less sneaky approach, Foaly."

"Okay, let's think of your saddest memories." Holly suggested. "Artemis, think of those years your father was missing, your mother's illness, Butler's death, your memory-wipe, and the time spent in the time tunnel."

"Those memories do not sadden me enough to produce tears."

"Then make yourself sad, Mud Boy. Anna-Maria, think of Julius, your mother's fatal car accident, leaving your best friend Julio Ferro, your grandparents worrying about where you were being raised, how you discovered you were an orphan! Anything?"

Anna-Maria blinked. "No, my eyes are almost completely dry. Foaly, do the tears have to be of sadness? Can't they be of happiness or mirth?"

"Hmm…well, it never says anything here about what the cause of the tears has to be. Mulch, will you walk into the wall please?"

The dwarf grimaced as he rubbed his back. "The girl just healed me, and you want me to collide with the wall _again_? Forget it, pony-boy."

"Why do you want Mulch to walk into the wall?" Holly asked.

"It used to make Anna-Maria laugh." Foaly replied.

"When I was eight years-old." Anna-Maria said, frowning. "I doubt a dwarf walking into a wall will make me laugh now."

"Okay, let me try something else. This just may do the trick." The centaur manipulated a few controls, and to everyone's amazement, a video clip, 'Charlie Unicorn and Candy Mountain', began to play.

Artemis and Anna-Maria simultaneously each raised an eyebrow. "You expect us to find this _humorous_?"

"Foaly, this is an insult to our intelligence! If you wish to avoid a budget cut I would recommend –"

Foaly interrupted her by fast-forwarding to a particular scene…with talking and singing candy letters. Mulch and Holly burst out laughing erratically, and after a few moments, Anna-Maria sank to the floor with her hands over her ears. "This is torture! Stop, Foaly, stop it!" Artemis was soon forced to join her. "This is severe abuse of intellect! One more moment of this and…" Foaly held a Petri dish under Anna-Maria's eyes as a single tear left her eyes. Her tear was soon joined with one of Artemis's and the two were combined.

The centaur capped the Petri dish as a small quake began and shook the room; the power of the Earth. Anna-Maria wiped her eyes and closed the centaur's internet browser. "Never again, understand? Or I'll –"

"Or you'll what?"

"Deprogram your entire network." She replied smugly as Artemis stood up with a small wince.

"That was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my life! Did you get the tears?"

Foaly showed him the Petri dish. The tears had an unusual look about them. For one thing, they were shining and sparkling mystically. For another, they had turned a pale blue.

"Other than their odd appearance, it doesn't look like anything has changed." Anna-Maria observed.

"And nothing _will_ change until you two have completed all three tasks." Foaly replied, frowning at Mulch, who, in his laughter, had fallen off the sofa and was laughing hysterically on the floor, exclaiming, "They took his kidney!"

Artemis, Anna-Maria, and Holly ignored him. "Do they really have to mix blood in the light of a full moon?" Holly asked.

Foaly nodded. "The next full moon is in two nights. Artemis, I'll make sure Anna-Maria meets you at Fowl Manor about an hour before. In the meantime, say your goodbyes; you two can't contact each other until the second task is completed. Once the first two tasks are accomplished, the curse will remain, but it will have weakened." The centaur left and Holly dragged Mulch out of the booth after them.

When Anna-Maria turned back to Artemis, he could see the anxiety in her eyes, although she tried to hide it. "Well, this was certainly quite far from my expectations." He said, trying to cheer her up.

"Artemis, I know this will be just as hard for you as it will be for me, maybe more; but we can't risk anything happening to you. Your parents would be crushed; I can't do that to them…or you. I want you to promise me something. If, for any reason, we cannot figure out what the third task is; I want you to marry someone else."

"Come again?" For the first time in his life, the male genius doubted his ears. "What did you say?"

"Artemis, don't make this any harder for me than it already is, please. Think of your parents, won't they want to see their grandchildren?"

"I think it's a bit early to be thinking of that; the twins are only nine years old."

"Maybe it is too early to be thinking of something like that. But I won't watch you grow without some hope of an heir just because of a curse. I admit that as my parents are both…dead, those expectations are nearly extinct in my life. I'm not asking you to renounce your love or fall in love again, but if we can't break the curse; I want you to forget me. I won't force you to go through a mind-wipe if you don't want to, but forget me. Expel every memory of me from your mind…forever."

Artemis turned away from her for a moment. "That is a large quantity of memories you are asking me to renounce; there are emotions that come with those memories."

"Please, I know it's a lot to ask for. But just promise me, _please_ Artemis. If anything happens to you I'll die! I can't–"

He turned and silenced her, laying a finger on her lips. "Shush, no need to cry now; Foaly already has tears from each of us. Alright, I promise. If the need arises, then I…then I will marry someone else."

"Thank you, Artemis." She hugged him gently. Artemis hugged her back, knowing that it may be for the last time…

_**Wow, there were a lot of emotions near the end of this chapter! So, what do you think? Too much emotion?**_


	6. Task Two

_**Okay, time for task two! Let's see how that turns out…**_

"Anna-Maria! What are you still doing here?!" Foaly exclaimed.

She raised an eyebrow. "Wondering what I pay you for?"

"Oh, ha ha. You know you're supposed to be getting ready to meet Artemis at Fowl Manor!"

"What's there to get ready for? I'm going to try to counteract an ancient curse; I'm not going on a date! I have my wings and a pod ready; I'm leaving in a few minutes."

"Trouble can take care of things here; get going!" He replied as he pushed her out of her office door.

Anna-Maria turned around and frowned at him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you wanted me to marry Artemis as soon as possible! Remember that I am the first female LEP commander in fairy history and I give you the highest salary you have ever gotten."

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten that. Just get going!"

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Artemis stood in front of his bedroom window, pacing. _Where is she? _He wondered. _She was supposed to arrive – _He consulted the clock on the wall opposite him. _… ten minutes from now. My mind is obviously far ahead of time. If only – _

"Artemis?"

The male genius turned around slowly. "Yes, old friend? What is it?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Pardon?"

Butler sighed. "Artemis, you have been wandering in your thoughts like this for two days now. You and Anna-Maria left so suddenly on Saturday, what happened?"

"Explaining will take quite a lot of time, old friend."

"Then supply me with a condensed version of things for now."

"Very well, Butler." And Artemis launched into a short version of Foaly's discovery and what it meant. The bodyguard listened intently, and when the Irish genius finished, he wore a troubled expression on his face.

"A curse, Artemis? This is serious; one mistake and you could end up dying in extremely mysterious circumstances. And although you may not agree entirely with Anna-Maria, she's being a good friend. She's willing to see you marry someone else if it means you'll be safe, putting you before herself; you don't see much of that kind of bravery anymore."

"I understand, Butler. However –" He was interrupted by the doorbell.

"Right on time." The bodyguard said, consulting his watch. "You might want to answer that door yourself if you want to avoid unnecessary questions."

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Anna-Maria waited impatiently on the doorstep. She didn't have long to wait, for Artemis soon opened the door. "Are you ready?"

She found herself shrugging. "That depends; what are we going to be using?"

"A bowl and a small scalpel are about all we will require for this task." He replied as he walked past her to the garden.

She followed him a little nervously. "Oh, is that all?" She frowned as Artemis seated himself on a patio chair. "What are you doing?"

He gestured to the sky. "The moon has not finished its waxing phase yet; there is still time. Please, sit."

"I'd rather not. The curse would be working at its full power by now."

"That's absurd."

"Is it? I think not. When dealing with a life, one can never be too careful." She sat herself ten feet away from him; her neutrino within easy reach.

And so fifty-five minutes passed by in silence. Anna-Maria wished more than anything that she had been born without a heart as Artemis hoped that the third task would soon become apparent to them. Soon, the full moon shone above, bathing the two genii in its white light.

"Are you ready?" Artemis asked her.

"As surely as you are prepared." She replied. "Let's just get this over with."

Artemis nodded and pricked the skin of his palm, allowing a drop of his blood to spill into the bowl. Anna-Maria took the scalpel from him and did the same. The two genii watched silently as the two blood drops became one. It was Anna-Maria who looked up first, after a drop of rainwater fell into the bowl. This sole drop was soon followed by several others until they were thoroughly soaked.

"The power of water." Anna-Maria said softly.

Artemis nodded. "It would be best not to celebrate yet, as we still have one more task to complete." He blinked the rain out of his eyes. "Do you require an umbrella?"

"Not really. When I turn my shield on, I'll be vibrating too fast for rain to stay on me for long; I'll be fine." She flicked her wet bangs out of her eyes. "I – I'll miss you, Artemis. Goodbye." She had so much more to say, but how could she say all of it or even any of it?

Artemis grasped her arm as she walked past. Anna-Maria turned around to face him immediately, startled. "Artemis, what are you doing? You know how dangerous this is with the curse and – Artemis, let go of me!" His grip only tightened. She could get away from him, but not without hurting him, and he knew it. "Artemis! LET…ME…GO!" He tilted her chin until she was looking into his eyes…

The weather had changed. Instead of rain, there was bright sunlight, and she found herself standing in a meadow. _What? Where am I? _Unfamiliar thoughts forced their way into her mind. _Where is that Mud Man? Robert and his little surprises…when will that man realize I can hear him before I see him? _She turned to see a raven-haired man moving toward her slowly. Strange words poured out of her mouth. "Robert Fowl, there you are! What took you so long?" _This is Robert Fowl? How is that possible? _

"I can't meet you anymore, Catalina." Robert uttered indifferently. _Catalina? Am I…reminiscing Catalina Root's memories? _"After this, we won't meet again."

She unwillingly drew closer and saw that he had been _mesmerized_. She reached out to touch him, but a green, scaly hand grabbed her wrist. "Robert! Noooooooo!" Her scream continued as the Mud Man shrank rapidly from her vision, as if she was being pulled at lightning speed away from the meadow. A large clap of thunder suddenly brought her to her senses and she panted heavily.

Artemis, who had been on the verge of shaking her, asked, "Anna-Maria, what happened to you? Are you alright?"

She clutched his arms as she regained her balance and her state of mind. "No, I…I need to leave…now." She broke away from him and left, still getting her bearings. What was going on?

_**Ooo…mysterious. Hmm…want an update? Review. And yes, I am referring to my regular reviewers as well as those readers who hit on the story and then leave me with this in my mind: 'Fifty hits and five reviews?! Geez, am I that bad?' Do you **_**want **_**to leave me with that impression? I thought not.**_


	7. Old Memories

_**New chappie! Please review!**_

_You must break it…you need to succeed. Failure is not an option; now open your eyes and see the world for what it is…you will not fail in your mission. _Anna-Maria gained consciousness with a start, her eyes flickering faintly before they completely focused.

She tried to sit up, but found that she was strapped to her bed. A monitor nearby began beeping and Foaly soon entered the room. "Nice to see you're finally awake, Fairy Girl; you had us worried for a while."

"Foaly? What happened?"

The centaur clapped an ice pack to her forehead. "You fainted. Now just lie back and relax, you'll be fine soon enough."

She pushed the ice pack away weakly. "Foaly, I…I saw…one of Catalina's memories. Robert Fowl, he was… _mesmerized_ – I had no control, I couldn't …Artemis? How is he?"

The centaur frowned and pushed a button to make the bed rise into a chair-like position. Then he pressed a cool cloth to her forehead and Anna-Maria was forced to remain silent from the pressure. "Artemis is fine, thankfully. Although he did narrowly miss getting hit by a shuttle on the way here –" He paused, noticing the half-human girl's widened eyes. "Really, he's fine; which is something I can't say for you. The mud boy did say that you zoned out for a couple of minutes – not in those exact words, of course, but that was his literal meaning and –"

"Foaly! The point…please."

"Right. Basically, you lost consciousness a few feet away from Fowl Manor, Artemis noticed and brought you here, and you've got a bit of a bump on your forehead. As for the supposed memory, you must have dreamt it."

She sighed heavily and pushed his hand away. "Foaly, I did not dream any of it! I…I _was _Catalina for a few minutes…in her body and mind. What are the possibilities of …of me actually being Catalina – in a reincarnated form?"

"None whatsoever. Catalina did promise that she would come back one day, but not in a reincarnated form – as a specter; and only when the curse was broken. And," He added as Anna-Maria opened her mouth. "No more talking for now. Artemis and Holly will have my front hooves if I don't let you rest."

"But Foaly I –"

"Shush; it's the middle of the night. Artemis and Holly are still asleep, let's keep it that way, alright?"

Too tired to argue, she simply nodded and lay back to think. _We still have the third task to complete – if only we knew what it was. I really need to… _She stretched and yawned for a moment. _I need to ask Foaly about that and if Artemis and I put our heads together we may figure it out soon enough. _She stifled another yawn. _In the meantime, I think I'll go back to sleep. _

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When Anna-Maria opened her eyes, she saw Artemis standing over her. Believing the sight to be a vision from a half-finished dream, she merely smiled sleepily. "Good morning, Anna-Maria." The half-fairy screamed and fell sideways off the bed.

Artemis smiled at an old memory. "And what are you grinning about?" She demanded, hoisting herself up off of the floor huffily. She tossed her head back defiantly, flicking her bangs out of her line of vision.

"I was merely remembering the time you tricked me into believing you had amnesia and fell similarly out of your bed the next morning six years ago."

"And you still haven't learned! If a girl is asleep, it is impolite to enter her room; I told you that, remember?"

"Even if that girl happens to be my fiancée?"

"Especially then."

"Very well, I shall comply with your wishes…for the time being." He smiled his trademark vampire smile. "Certain…compromises will have to be made in the near future."

Anna-Maria didn't bother asking what he meant; she could guess. Instead, she shook her hair out of its still damp ponytail and fixed a few strands behind her pointed ears. "Yes, I suppose. But one also has to make certain sacrifices…"

His smile faded slightly. "Sacrifices?"

"Yes. Such as…I will require a share of chemistry equipment and room for my experiments, so…"

"Would you prefer your own laboratory or would sharing mine work just as well?"

She tilted her head to one side, considering. "The latter will do well enough. Now, we need to settle on names…"

"Names?"

"For the children, of course."

"Children? Have you been conferring with Mother recently?"

"Not recently; just a few talks with Foaly. He recommends 'Jasmine' for the first girl and 'Vincenzio' for the second boy."

"First girl? Second boy? How many…?"

"Nine should be sufficient."

"N-nine?"

"Would you prefer nineteen?"

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Nineteen? And you believe you will be physically able to support nineteen pregnancies and births?"

"If I don't get ovarian cancer."

"Ovarian cancer? Is that why you want to have nine children; to decrease your likelihood of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer?"

"No, I like children…and I am waiting for Holly, Mulch, and Foaly to stop gawking at the window and realize I noticed their presence from the beginning of this conversation; hence the…somewhat irrelevant subjects of discussion."

"And you found it necessary to moderately worry me?"

"Sorry, Artemis. I won't do that again." She turned to the three fairies (who had, in the meantime, crept sheepishly into the room) with a glare. "As for you three, why do you continuously peek into my affairs?"

Mulch tried to hold back a snort, but failed. He was soon laughing maniacally on the floor, with Holly and Foaly standing over him, frowning disapprovingly.

"What is so funny?" Anna-Maria demanded. Artemis whispered something to her, and the tips of her ears turned a dull red. "Oh. Oh, my…that was far from my meaning, you can quite certain of that. Um…this will not be mentioned again, at any time, _sì_?"

Holly and Foaly nodded while Mulch continued to laugh erratically on the floor (Foaly silenced him with a small kick). The dwarf stopped immediately. "What? Oh, yeah, sure."

The girl ignored him for a moment. "Anyway…how are we supposed to figure out what the third task is? What was the verse you found, Foaly?"

The centaur accessed his palmtop and searched the files for a bit. "'Only the strength of the heart will overpower the curse and destroy it for eternity'; apparently Catalina was a poet."

"How are we supposed to know what that means?" Holly inquired, stamping on Mulch's foot to get him off of the floor.

"If I continue to…experience Catalina's memories like I did yesterday –"

"Not that again. Anna-Maria, it is completely impossible to –"

"To produce a curse and experience the memories of an ancestor?" Artemis finished for him. "I doubt that either is impossible. If so, we would not be here in this situation, would we?"

Anna-Maria smiled at him gratefully. "As I was saying, maybe I will be able to get inside her head long enough to think like her and figure out what she could have meant. Of course, the problem is that I don't know what triggers these memories and I can't control them."

"Then we will have to wait."

"Or," Everyone turned to look at the centaur. "You can visit Catalina's old home and see if she left any clues."

"Where is her old home?" Artemis asked.

"In the Amazon forest. You might want to take some mosquito repellent with you."

Anna-Maria looked at Artemis. "Are you up to it?"

"Are you?"

"If you are."

"There's your answer."

_**Great…now they have to go the Amazon rainforest – that will be eventful. Please, please review! And what was with that weird image value thing I had to type in before I could login?**_


	8. Memories of Home

_**New chapter means new reviews!**_

Anna-Maria looked down from her spot on the cliff to see Artemis climbing steadily only a few inches away. "Are you alright, Artemis?" Although he was about as fit as she was, she was still worried. If they made even the smallest mistake, the curse would get one of them no matter how physically able they were.

"For a twenty-one year old man who is climbing a cliff to discover the secrets of a curse to ultimately eliminate it, I am perfectly fine."

"Okay, we're almost to the mouth of the cave."

"Remind me, why did your ancestor live in a cave behind a waterfall in the Amazon rainforest?"

"She liked to be near water, apparently; and she found the cave enticing and comfortable." The half-human girl replied, brushing her hair out of the wind.

"Are you sure it was _this _cave?"

"I saw it in her memory."

"In an _ancient _memory!"

"So? Why would Catalina's name be etched into this rock if she didn't live or at least visit this place?"

Artemis climbed up next to her. "Where?"

Anna-Maria brushed moss from the rock she had been using as a handhold and showed him the letters carved into its surface. "See? We're on the right track."

"Or someone is trying to deceive us into believing we are on the right track." He pointed out.

Anna-Maria frowned. "Yes…that is also a possibility. Maybe…" She plucked a scanner from her belt and ran it across the surface of the rock. "Compare to the writings of Catalina T. Root." The scanner whirred for a moment and beeped. "Match found: Catalina T. Root; female elf formerly living in the modern-day Amazon forest. First name chiseled in rock on July third, late eleventh century."

She smirked slightly and pocketed the scanner. She gripped her handholds and footholds tightly as they continued their ascent up the damp and slippery cliff. "I'll enter the cave first, alright?"

"You'll be putting yourself at risk if there are any traps in the cave." Artemis replied.

Anna-Maria climbed to the mouth of the cave and hung her head over the opening. "That's the point. As LEP commander, I am accustomed and expected to put others before myself."

Artemis finished the ascent and frowned. "Yes, but you are off-duty at the present time."

"Danger is never off-duty."

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The two genii ventured into the deepest tunnels of the cave without meeting disaster until they came to what must have been Catalina's living quarters. Anna-Maria picked up an old journal from the desk and brushed the dust off the cover while Artemis studied the bookshelves that had been built all over the grotto.

The half-fairy opened the journal and began to skim over the pages. Catalina Root had written all about her family and their life aboveground, including the wars between humans and fairies. And, towards the middle of the book, there were several mentions of Robert Fowl and Catalina's realization of her love for the Mud Man.

She stopped at a particular page and read the last sentence:

_I must admit I love him; but I must also admit we belong to different peoples; and so, we can nev _

The elf had stopped writing mid-sentence. Anna-Maria frowned and turned the page over. Nothing. She skimmed the rest of the journal. Nothing but blank pages. Something had interrupted Catalina in her writing; but what?

Anna-Maria shivered involuntarily as a feeling of apprehension crept up her spine. Something had gone wrong. And that something was still there. _Get OUT! _The thought forced its way into her mind, making itself heard. Catalina's thoughts unleashed into the girl's mind, _It's a trap, get out! Don't let the mistakes that ruined my life ruin yours; get out!_

She whirled around immediately, her eyes full of a rare flame. "Artemis, look out!"

"Pardon?"

"Move!" The male genius had no time to protest as Anna-Maria pushed him out of the grotto and activated her Safetynet; handing it to him, she said, "Stay within its vicinity until help comes, understand?"

"Why would –"

"Stay in the Safetynet!"

Artemis had no time to inquire; in a split second, Anna-Maria was completely engulfed by a ball of flame.

_**Yeah, that's a cliffhanger moment. Please review and let me know if you liked it and if my writing is interesting. **_


	9. Alone

_**New chapter, let's get reading!**_

"_We examined the entire cave from top to bottom – everything was burned. There's no way Anna-Maria could have survived without a Safetynet."_

"_Foaly, are you sure? Why did Anna-Maria have to…die? I thought the curse only targeted Mud Men!" Holly had said._

_The centaur had glanced at Artemis out of the corner of his eyes. The male genius looked slightly paler than usual and had not shifted his gaze from the floor; he had also remained completely silent throughout the entire conference. _

"_Yes, well, this was something else. Upon examination, my tests revealed that the cave was enchanted with an old spell by one of the same warlocks who created the curse, targeting anyone with Mud Man blood. Artemis was saved by the Safetynet, but Anna-Maria…"_

_Even Mulch had looked remorseful. "But how could she be gone – just like that?"_

"_The same way Julius was gone." Holly had said quietly._

_Artemis had lifted his gaze for a moment but remained silent. _"_She is – was a good commander, one of the best the LEP has ever seen. It may be time for her to join Julius in the in the council's eyes as a great but deceased officer…and in ours."_

"_Who will take her place?" Mulch had inquired._

"_Anna-Maria made arrangements with Trouble years ago – if something happened to her, he was to take her position as LEP commander." The elf had been standing in the corner listening intently; he now lowered his head and turned away. _

_Foaly had dismissed everyone – the other officers had already been told to go home early. He stopped Artemis for a moment. "Hang on, Mud Boy."_

_He took a slip of paper of paper from a drawer. "Anna-Maria told me you promised her you would marry someone else for the sake of your parents if you couldn't break the curse or if something happened to her. Here," He handed the male genius the paper._

"_Anna-Maria thought Minerva would be a good choice – since she already knew so much about the People and because she always seemed to like you."_

_Artemis' head shot up for the first time since the accident two days before. "Minerva? But after what she did to Anna-Maria…?"_

"_That was years ago. Anna-Maria decided that Minerva had simply made a bad decision out of jealousy and spite; if given the chance she wouldn't have made the same choice. And, a few weeks ago, Minerva called Fairy-Girl and apologized for that and any other problems she had caused; she had matured and repented her actions. _

"_Anna-Maria forgave her immediately and they soon became good friends. She wanted you to marry someone you could be comfortable with, someone understanding; and she found that someone in Minerva. It's not much more than a suggestion – but the promise you made to her was her last wish. That paper has Minerva's phone number; call her when you're ready."_

Artemis now clenched the paper in his fist angrily. How could Foaly have said that so simply, so easily? Anna-Maria had been the centaur's friend, his employer; she had been his goddaughter! She couldn't be dead…not after all she had gone through. She had always been on top of life, and now – every remnant of her being had been wiped away, burnt to ashes swept away by the wind!

The worst thing was, it had happened before his very eyes; and there was nothing he could have done about it, absolutely nothing. Why had she put herself in harm's way to save him? Without her, all the excitement of life was gone.

"Why, Anna-Maria? How could you decide to die without thinking about how it would affect me?" Artemis was startled as a hand was laid on his shoulder.

He looked up to see Holly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "You might want to go, Mud Boy; some of the techies are emptying Anna-Maria's office. You need some time alone with your thoughts."

Walking down the hall alone, Artemis felt emptier than he had ever felt in his life.

Yeah, I know, it's really short and I could have combined this chapter with the last one; but I wanted a good cliffhanger, so please be so kind to review.


	10. Six Months Later

_**Nope, it's not over yet!**_

_Six Months Later…_

Artemis froze as he entered his study, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling with tension and his heartbeat quickening. Someone else was in the room with him.

"Nice to see you again, Artemis."

The Irishman's blood ran cold as he recognized the voice. He turned slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the shadows; for once, he feared that he was right. He was.

There was no way the girl could be a hologram or a highly modified clone, for Anna-Maria (yes, it was her) had gained enough weight to no longer seem dangerously thin, and her formerly waist-length hair now reached only a few inches past her shoulders. Yet her bright green eyes sparkled as they always had, full of hidden thoughts and ideas.

"Surprised, Mr. Fowl? I was too." She stood and walked towards him, as much to keep him from believing he was crazy as to keep her own heart from bursting at the sight of him. Artemis didn't step back. He reached out and gently brushed a few strands of her hair away from a pointed ear.

"Six months…I thought you were gone forever."

She reached up and caressed his hand, "Artemis, I know I have a lot to explain to you and everyone else. Just…give me some time."

"I'm listening."

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"When I was surrounded by that fire, my healing managed to keep me from burning. But I soon ran out of magic to heal with, and shortly after that, Catalina's voice was telling me she could save me, but the only way to get out of the fire was to lift me into another time. Unfortunately, my telekinesis and my power to manipulate and create images were keeping me anchored to the present; so I gave them up…forever.

"Catalina dropped me into the eighteenth century, and fortunately for me, the people who took me in were kind and treated me to the best of their abilities. Although I survived, my burns were numerous and serious; and I took days to return to consciousness. By the time I completed the ritual, my burns were half-healed and took longer than they should have to heal completely with magic.

"And," She peeled the collar of her blouse from her neck, revealing a small crescent-shaped scar along her collarbone, "Not all of them healed. I was not returned to our time until about a week ago; and I have been monitoring your activities ever since." Anna-Maria looked up at him now. "You have yet to fulfill your promise."

"Where is the need to fulfill it now?"

"Artemis, that fire was aimed for you. I may have been able to take it for you this time, but next time…we can't risk your injury or loss of life."

"And I have been living innocently ever since the accident, have I? Living under the pretense of your death has been the equivalent of a living death, nothing less!"

"This is hard for me too. Do you think I _want _to watch you marry someone else? Artemis, for every problem, there is a solution; but sometimes, you may not see the solution until the time is right. It is not time to break the curse yet, it will be broken at the right time by the right persons."

Artemis closed his eyes and thought for a few minutes as Anna-Maria tried to wait patiently. At last, he opened his eyes and looked up. "Very well; I will marry Minerva…but only on the day that _you _marry someone else."

"Me?"

"If I must marry another, so should you."

"Did you have someone in mind?"

Artemis stood and walked around her chair slowly as he thought aloud. "It will have to be someone who is aware of the existence of the People, someone human; perhaps an old childhood friend of yours?"

Her eyes widened as she processed this but she remained silent.

"Someone who was, at one time, close to you; someone who knew you as well and as long as I have. Someone such as…"

"Julio Ferro." The whispered name slipped between her lips softly.

"Precisely."

"How did you find out about him?"

"I remembered Holly mentioning his name, and I met him by chance in Venice a few months ago. He was wandering around your soon-to-be-inherited manor, looking for clues as to where you might be after all these years. He is currently staying at a nearby hotel; a result of our friendship and connection to you. If Julio proposes to you, accept and I will marry Minerva."

"Artemis, Julio was my best friend; I cannot use him like that!"

"_If _he proposes, marry him. As any best friend, he will not be able to endure any sadness that you may suffer and will make you happy; that is why you must marry him." He turned and looked her directly in the eye.

"I love you with all my heart, Anna-Maria; and if we cannot be together, I wish to see you married to someone who loves you and will ensure your happiness despite this curse."

She was silent for a moment. "Alright, if you promise to marry Minerva, I promise to marry Julio if he proposes to me. _But_ I will not do anything that will prompt him to do so because he has no other option."

Artemis extended his hand to her. She looked at him for a moment before placing her hand in his. "I promise." He said softly.

He turned to leave, but Anna-Maria called him back. "Wait, Artemis! You'll need this." She slipped his ring off of her finger and handed it to him gently. The male genius felt a stab of pain as the ring fell in his palm.

He slowly closed his fingers around the ring and faced her again, his icy blue eyes connecting with her emerald green ones for a moment. "_Domani, incontri con Julio_."

A tear slipped down her cheek as he turned and left. "_Ti amo sempre_."

_**Please review, I really want to know what you all think!**_


	11. Julio Ferro

_**New chapter**_

"_Crisalide_!" Anna-Maria looked up at the tall blonde man standing in front of her, recognizing Julio's old nickname for her. "_Crisalide"_ meant "Fairy" in Italian.

"Julio, _come va_?"

"_Sto benone, e tu?_"

"_Daverro? _I'm alright, I suppose. How are your parents?"

"Doing well, for the most part. _Papà _and _mamma _want me to find a nice girl and get settled down; I've been too busy looking for you."

She cocked her head and looked at him. It was understandable that his parents would want him to settle down; Angeline wanted the same thing of Artemis, and Julio was a year older than he was; two years older than she was, he had been only eight when the LEP retrieved her the night of her mother's funeral. He was of average intelligence, but he had always been clever…and quite obstinate. "How long have you been looking for me?"

"About four years."

"Four years?! Julio, you…you…"

"Can't think of a good insult? How about 'blockhead'?"

"Don't be ridiculous; you're not a blockhead."

"Did I mention I was looking in Brazil, India, France, and Canada?"

"Julio, you blockhead! What would I have been doing in Brazil, India, France, or Canada?!"

"How would I know?"

Artemis, who had been silently observing in the shadows of the doorway, felt it was time to intervene and cleared his throat. Both Italians immediately turned around. Anna-Maria clutched the arm of her chair as she stood up, her knuckles a deadly white.

"Did you two normally have such…interesting conversations?"

Julio grinned guiltily. "Yeah, more or less."

"Even after fourteen years?"

"Especially after fourteen years." Anna-Maria replied.

"Well, then, should I book a different hotel for you, Anna-Maria?"

"No, the one Julio is staying at is fine, really." _Shoot, _She thought. _Why in Frond's name did I let myself fall in love?_

Julio nodded, a mischievous smile playing about his lips despite himself. "We were always like that as kids; most people couldn't tell if we were friends or enemies. Remember, Anna-Maria?"

"Your parents were the most surprised of all." She swallowed uncomfortably. "I…I need to go home. I have to tell everyone about…everything."

Julio nodded understandingly. Artemis smiled his vampire smile. "Of course."

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_Why in Frond's name did I ever agree to bring Artemis to Haven six years ago? I should've known that – _She bumped into Diana. _Darn it! _

The female Fowl twin regarded her with an expression of bewilderment mixed with sadness. "Anna-Maria? I haven't seen you for six months!"

The former LEP commander felt her shoulders tighten with tension. Artemis may not have told his family about the accident, but the twins, Diana in particular, were amateur computer hackers; if there was something they weren't told, they usually found out themselves.

"I've been a bit busy, Diana, my apologies. How have you been?"

"Davy and I have been alright. I'm not so sure about Artemis though – he's been a bit…lost in his thoughts lately."

"I think he'll be fine soon enough." Anna-Maria replied truthfully. "How are your parents?"

"Fine, I think. But apparently they want a daughter-in-law soon."

Anna-Maria looked over her shoulder for a moment at Artemis' study, where she had left the male genius and her old friend. "I don't think they have very long to wait."

Diana watched her as she left, puzzled by her words.

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Anna-Maria opened the doors of Police Plaza and immediately wished she hadn't. For one thing, there was a group of goblins heading towards it to escape. For another, a group of LEP officers were right on their heels – and both groups were about to crash into her.

She assumed her normal battle stance and managed to knock three goblins unconscious before she got hit in the shoulder by an officer's buzz baton and a goblin's fireball at the same time. She bit back a scream and kicked the offending goblin into the officer who had hit her. Blue sparks scurried around her injured shoulder, healing the dark burns that had appeared on her skin.

"Stop!" To the surprise of the former LEP commander, and everyone else for that matter, everyone froze at her order. A pair of goblins lowered their flaming hands as an LEP officer stopped reaching for a pair of handcuffs on his belt. Everyone was gaping at her.

She raised herself from the floor and tried to blow her bangs out of her eyes without success. Then they began screaming. The goblins screamed and ran towards the doors they had half-melted as the LEP officers followed them. "Uh-oh." That was all Anna-Maria had time to say before she dashed out of the way to avoid getting crushed by officers and goblins taking to the streets. Normally she would have assisted the officers, but she was no longer an officer herself and, as a civilian, was supposed to stay out of the way.

"Next time I come back after a long absence I'll be sure to leave a message first!" She stuck to the shadows and slowly made her way to the tech booth.

She keyed in her personal code and the door slid open. She leaned halfway in. "Foaly?" She rested her fingertips for a moment on an old computer that the centaur had modified for her three years before. "Foaly?" She repeated. "Are you in here?"

She looked around, seeing nothing but computers and computer hardware; the walls and floor could not be distinguished from the technology around them. She frowned, lifting a packet of notes from the couch amidst a pile of odds and ends. She flipped through the notes for a moment before she heard something.

Remembering what had happened in the cave, she turned slowly. Apparently too slowly. Foaly had already grabbed her in his hairy arms and had her head touching the ceiling before she had completed a 360 degree angle. She managed to keep herself from crying due to lack of air as the centaur proceeded to squeeze nearly all the oxygen out of her lungs as he hugged her tightly.

"Foaly…I think… you are…interrupting the respiration process…by…by squeezing…so…hard."

The centaur released her almost immediately. "Sorry, Fairy Girl."

She stepped back on the floor (he'd lifted her up in his hug) and inhaled deeply. "Thank you; nice to see you too. How have you been, Foaly?"

"Submerged in technology. Can't say the same for Holly, Artemis, or Mulch though. How is it that you died six months ago and happen to be standing right in front of me? I haven't gone mad, have I?"

"No, Foaly, you haven't gone mad." She sat down and proceeded to tell him exactly what she had told Artemis. "And that's what happened." She finished.

The centaur rubbed his chin in thought. "Hmm…so maybe those memories you were having actually _were _memories."

"Foaly! That was what I was trying to tell you before Artemis and I left for the Amazon forest!"

"Sorry, I thought it was just the result of stress and tension. You can't really blame me for that."

"No, I can't say I do. Foaly, Artemis wants me to marry Julio! What do I do?"

"Say yes, if he proposes?"

"Foaly!"

"What? You asked and I answered!"

She sighed and lay down on the sofa, laying her head on the armrest. "Yes, but…I don't know if I'll be able to keep him happy. Oh…why did I ever let myself fall in love?"

"I don't know."

"Rhetorical question, Foaly!" She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to find her inner peace. She would have found it, too, if it wasn't for a very loud elfin shriek. "Holly! I haven't gone deaf!"

"No, but you're not dead!" The elf screamed with uncharacteristically erratic joy and hugged her tightly.

"As I was explaining to Foaly, yes. Holly! Again…I can't…breathe!"

_**Keep reviewing everyone!**_


	12. What's Going On?

_**Please, review!**_

The phone in Anna-Maria's hotel room rang suddenly. She ran from the bathroom, her hair still dripping from her shower, and snatched it up. "Hello?"

The immediate response was an ear-piercing shriek. She held the phone away from her ear for a moment before replacing it to her pointed ear. "Okay, Minerva; what's wrong?"

"Oh, Anna-Maria, what could possibly be wrong at a time like this?"

"I don't know – that's why I asked you!" The half-fairy girl replied, sitting on her bed.

"You won't believe it! Artemis – Artemis – he…"

"He what?"

"He proposed to me!"

She subconsciously dropped the phone, allowing it to clatter to the floor. It was nearly a full minute before she recovered her senses and picked it up. "Minerva, are you still there? What did you say?"

"Artemis! He proposed to me and I said yes! Isn't that great?"

Anna-Maria's heartbeat sped up and filled her ears with the sound of rapidly pumped blood. _Thump…thump…thump. _She inhaled slowly to calm herself; and, lifting the phone, she kept the mixed feelings from her voice. "Yes, that's wonderful! When are you planning on getting married?"

"In about a month and a half. Anna-Maria, I want you to be my bridesmaid."

"Me, a bridesmaid? No, no, no, absolutely not!"

"Well, maybe not then. But please promise me you'll be there!" The French girl pleaded.

"Okay, I promise! I won't miss it for the world."

"Really? Call me tomorrow, please!"

"_Va bene_, _a domani_; promise. Congratulations, I…I'll hear from you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah. Bye, Anna-Maria!"

"Bye, Minerva." Sighing, the Venetian laid the phone on the bedside table. She closed her eyes to think. Artemis had so far fulfilled his part of the agreement; she would have to fulfill hers soon.

Her eyes snapped open when there was a knock on the door. She opened it reluctantly to find Artemis standing there. "Artemis?"

"As you have probably heard by now, I have asked Minerva to marry me." He watched as she lowered her gaze. "And, if after a month and a half's time, Julio has proposed to you and does not receive your acceptance; I will leave Minerva at the altar."

She looked up at him, stunned. "You wouldn't."

"I would."

She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. "If Julio proposes, I will not let a day go by without my acceptance of his proposal." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "That was what you wanted to hear, wasn't it?"

"I simply do not wish for you to forget your promise."

"Artemis, my promises are anything but empty. I have promised to marry Julio, and I will. I have promised to appear at your wedding to Minerva, and I will. I have promised to do anything to protect your life," She looked at him with eyes that burned fiercely. "And I will."

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Julio whistled loudly. "Anna-Maria, over here!"

She turned immediately to find him seated on a white stallion. "Julio? What are you doing?"

"Have you ever ridden a horse before?"

"N – no, I haven't."

He beckoned to her. "Come on, then."

"Me, now? Julio, I can't…I –"

"Come on." He dismounted, walked over to her, and looked into her eyes. "I know you can. Besides, you'll be with me; I won't let anything happen to you."

Before she could protest, he slipped his arm under her knees and swept her off her feet, literally. "Julio, put me down!"

"You know, I always wanted to hold you in my arms like this, but as an eight year-old, I couldn't lift a pound bag of rice up off the ground, let alone a living being."

She screamed and clutched his collar. "Julio, you're going to drop me!"

"Look into my eyes, Anna-Maria; do you really think I'm going to let you fall?"

Her green eyes connected with his brown ones. "No."

He smiled as he carried her to the horse and lifted her to the saddle. She sat gratefully, but almost afraid to pick up the reins. He climbed up behind her and showed her how to work them, carefully guiding her hands the entire time.

Anna-Maria subconsciously smiled, remembering the fun she had had with him as a child. She did love him, but as her best friend, like a brother.

She reached up and brushed a few strands of hair away from his eyes. His hair always had been a bit wayward. "_Grazie_, I couldn't see." Julio said, running a hand through his blond hair.

She punched him playfully. "If you couldn't see, you should have said so!"

"Why? You would have screamed that you were going to be trampled because I couldn't see where you were going to guide you."

"I would not have."

"Yes, you would've." He told her, sweeping her hair from her face. "You always did things like that."

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did. Remember when my dad used to pick you up, you started crying every time he tried to put you on his shoulders."

"I was three years old!"

"And that was after you set up a wireless internet connection at your grandmother's manor."

"Oh. Well, that was years ago."

"Why don't you just admit your fear of heights and get it over with?"

"I am NOT afraid of heights! I'm just not comfortable when I'm not in control of my positioning, that's all."

"Yeah, right you just –" Anna-Maria pulled the reins back suddenly. The horse reared up obediently and poor Julio fell to the ground, landing on his posterior. "Hey, what was that?!"

She smiled and allowed the stallion to return its front hooves to the ground. "I learn quickly."

The Venetian man pushed his hair out of his eyes, scowling. "Okay, so you're not afraid of heights. But you're still high-strung."

"So are you."

He looked up at her, eyeing the silver heart-shaped pendant around her neck. "You still wear that old thing?"

Anna-Maria looked down at him. "Of course I do, you gave it to me."

"You were four years old when I gave it to you." He replied.

"So? Do you still have that football I gave you when you were seven?"

He looked down, his hair covering his reddening face. "Yes."

"So then why shouldn't I still have a gift you gave me?"

"I don't know. Well, I'm not a genius like you."

She dismounted and held her hand out to him. "Come on, you know I never cared about that. Besides, nobody ever accused you of not being intelligent." He took her hand, looked into her eyes, and pulled. Anna-Maria shrieked as she fell into the dust. "Julio Ferro, you are going to pay for that!"

He stood up, laughing. "You're going to have to catch me first."

She glared at him. "Then why aren't you running?"

"Because you haven't gotten up yet."

"Oh, yeah?" She propped herself up on her elbows. "I'm warning you, I can outrun a guy like you easily."

"Yeah? Then come and get me!"

She launched herself at him; he dodged her attack and quickly mounted the horse, disappearing on the other side of the hill. She stopped running after a few minutes and stood, panting, with one hand shading her eyes, watching him. "Julio hasn't changed a bit, I was afraid he had for a few minutes!"

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"Did you have a nice time with your old friend?" Anna-Maria turned, surprised.

"Mr. Fowl? What brings you here?" She slung her jacket on her arm and walked across the lobby to speak to him.

Artemis Fowl I smiled pleasantly. "I take it you have heard the good news, Anna-Maria?"

"Um…yes, I heard."

"Good, good. Please, sit." He gestured to the cushions on the sofa next to him. She sat down. "So, how was it to meet your old friend after so many years?"

"Julio? It was…eventful." She looked down, noticed an invisible fleck of dust on her jacket, and proceeded to flick it off.

"Hmm…and how do you feel about this situation?"

She looked up, puzzlement in her eyes. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Fowl? What do my feelings have to do with the situation?"

"I believe your feelings have _everything _to do with the situation. Am I right?"

She looked down and stopped brushing her jacket. "Yes, Mr. Fowl, you are right. However, one cannot always trust emotions. Sometimes, it is best to act upon what the mind commands over what the heart says."

"Perhaps. But what you may not be aware of is that you do not need a man in your life as much as you think you do."

She looked up. "What do you mean?"

"You had a successful career and a good life before…Julio, was it? Women are mainly independent; however, men are actually quite weak at heart, they need a woman to complete them. Do you understand?"

"I think I'm beginning to. You mean something similar to the expression, 'behind every great man, there is a great woman'?"

"Exactly so. Do you see my point?"

"Unless it happens to be something along the lines of 'the reason why men exist', I'm afraid I don't."

"You'll understand in time."

_**Review please! I'm getting really tired of these author's notes. Review, and I'll be happy. **_


	13. Dinnertime

_**New chapter…again! Still getting tired of author's notes…**_

"Artemis?"

The male genius looked up. "Julio! How are things between you and Anna-Maria?"

"I don't know."

"You…don't…know?"

"How are things supposed to be?" The Italian youth asked.

"Uh…pleasant, I should hope."

"Too pleasant, if you ask me." Julio replied, sitting down across from the Irishman. "I feel a bit insecure around her."

"Meaning…?"

"I try to talk to her, and it's as if there's a wall there, keeping me from the Anna-Maria I used to know."

"She seemed alright yesterday."

"It's like she's acting, as if she doesn't know who she is or how to be herself anymore. I can understand that if it's because of coming so close to death; but I don't think that's why she is like that now."

"Hmm…interesting." Artemis wrote something on his notepad. "I suggest you keep doing what you are now – you will get through to her in time. Simply do not let yourself get discouraged."

"Thanks; I'll try to remember that."

"Oh, you may want to trip in front of her at some point."

"And I would want to trip in front of Anna-Maria because…?"

"She was a bit rough around the edges when I first met her. It was just as you said, as if there was a wall there. I tripped purposely, knowing that she would heal me if I got hurt. It was the best way to talk to her at the time without irritating her."

"Yes, but you were…how old when this happened?"

"Hmm…fifteen years old."

"Okay, and I am now twenty-two. How would it look if a grown man tripped suddenly?"

"Very well, do you have any better ideas?"

"Maybe you and Minerva could join us for dinner and dancing. It might make Anna-Maria more comfortable and willing to communicate sufficiently."

"Perhaps. I will talk it over with Minerva and let you know of the result. I have some business to attend to at the moment."

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Anna-Maria sat along the edge of the hotel's large swimming pool, watching the motionless water with wandering eyes. "What did Mr. Fowl mean? Mother – she never married. Why? Maybe she – no, that's not it. Did she ever fall in love?"

She stretched out on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. "She used to tell me that her love was the cinema; for an actress, it made some sense. But – I do need Artemis, I admit that; still, maybe I don't need him as much as he needs me, I just want him in my life.

"But how does that help me? What am I supposed to do?" She closed her eyes and thought, breathing in and out slowly. Her hearing sharpened, as did her thoughts. _Catalina clearly believes we can break the curse; I know Mother and Julius would expect the same. But this isn't only about me; I can risk my own life, but not someone else's. _

Her eyes opened and focused on icy blue irises. _And that's exactly how Artemis feels. _

"Julio tells me you seem to be a bit aloof."

"Really? And what reason do I have for **not **being aloof?" She stayed where she was, looking directly into his eyes. "It has been fourteen years since I saw him last; surely you can't expect one to be entirely comfortable?"

"Julio has suggested a bit of an outing; Minerva and I will join you."

"Hmm…and this outing is…?"

"Dinner and then dancing."

"Dinner sounds intriguing…I don't know if I can say the same about dancing."

"What's happened to you?"

She raised an eyebrow; concern was written clearly on his face most uncharacteristically. "Don't worry yourself, Genius-Boy; I'm back, that's all…with only a few," She winked at him. "Minor adjustments."

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Artemis closed his eyes and began to meditate. _'Minor adjustments'? What did she mean by that? She lost her psychic abilities, certainly; but I doubt that was solely what she was referring to… women should come with an instructions manual. _

A pair of arms locked around his neck. He opened his eyes slowly. "Hello, Minerva."

The French girl smiled down at him. "Where's Anna-Maria? Still a tomboy, isn't she? I want to check on her – see if her chosen attire is suitable for our outing tonight."

Artemis gently released her arms from his neck and wrote something on a small pad. "She is currently staying at the Hotel Stella, room 103." He tore off the paper and handed it to her.

Minerva took the paper and memorized the address. "Okay, so we'll see you tonight at the hotel's club?"

"Of course."

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Anna-Maria opened the door and smiled. "Minerva! It's so nice to see you again! But I thought I wouldn't see you again till tonight."

Minerva smiled back and walked into the room casually. "I just wanted to make sure you would choose something suitable to wear for tonight."

"Uh-oh." The Venetian girl remembered several times when Holly had voiced similar thoughts.

Minerva opened her bag. "I had a concierge show me some nice outfits that I thought would suit you well."

"As I said, uh-oh. I'm in trouble now."

"Don't be so apprehensive; it's just a few dresses."

"I hate dresses."

"And I hate almonds, but I still eat them."

"That's different; almonds are good for sharpening the mind."

"Yes, they are." Minerva turned the other girl towards the mirror and held a silver dress in front of her. "What do you think of this one?"

Anna-Maria stared. "Where's the rest of it?"

Minerva frowned. "What do you mean?"

The other girl plucked at its hem. "It's so…short."

"So?"

"I am NOT wearing anything this short or this revealing!"

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Still the typical tomboy." She held the bag out to her. "Here, find something you like."

She grudgingly took the bag. "I highly doubt I'll find something I'll like."

"Then pick whatever you hate the least."

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Julio twirled his glass around, watching the ice clink against the crystal. "How long are they going to take? Anna-Maria never took this long getting dressed before, did she?"

"No. However, Minerva is assisting her this time." Artemis replied as he studied the menu. "She must be detaining her due to a fashion misfit of some sort."

Julio grinned and took a sip of his water. "Maybe; Anna-Maria always struck me as more like my mother than her own."

Artemis glanced at him for a moment. "Really?"

"Not physically; although her mother was an actress, she was the quiet, tolerant type. My mother is a professor of science at the University of Venice; she used to think of herself as a second mother to Anna-Maria. Her own mother seemed almost frightened of her at times; as a result, she spent more time with my mother…and me."

"Do you regret it?"

Julio looked up, surprised. "No, not at all. She's different, but that makes her more interesting and likeable. At least, it does to me."

Artemis nodded and set down his menu. "Minerva has just entered; Anna-Maria should be following her soon."

"How did you…?"

"The reflections against the crystal gave it away; much like a mirror would."

"Oh." Julio turned to the doorway. "Is that really Anna-Maria?"

Artemis looked in the same direction. Minerva was talking to a girl in a blue dress, trying to get her to enter. She did look a bit different; or at least she did until she tripped on the way in.

Julio rolled his eyes. "She's wearing stilettos, and she just tripped. That's got Anna-Maria written all over it."

Anna-Maria reddened slightly and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. Minerva sighed. "I told you to take light steps, Anna-Maria."

"I did; I just hate these heels even more than I hate this dress!"

"You ruined the entire impression!"

"By tripping? Everybody does that every now and again."

"Yes, but not –" Minerva tripped on a chair leg. "Now you made me trip!"

"So what? You've already made an impression on Artemis." She looked around and found the two men sitting at their table. "And I've already made one on Julio; you could have at least let me wear some pants!"

"Just get to the table in one piece." Minerva said, frowning.

Anna-Maria held her head high, walked over to the table, and looked over her shoulder at the other girl, daring her to do the same, and better.

Minerva ignored her look and sat herself next to Artemis. "So, Artemis, what have you and Julio been talking about?"

Artemis watched as Anna-Maria sat across from him, next to Julio. "Oh, just little ideas and thoughts, really."

"How interesting." Anna-Maria mumbled, her chin in her palm.

Minerva laughed forcefully. "Oh, Artemis, you're so funny!" She sent a glare Anna-Maria's way; a glare that said, '_You're not doing this right_'.

She raised an eyebrow, her chin still resting on her palm. "Julio, have you decided what you want to order?"

He looked at his menu. "I was thinking of ordering the chicken parmesan and rice; what do you want?"  
"The chicken parmesan sounds good." She replied, smiling. She stole a glance at Minerva; '_Now am I doing this right?_'

Artemis concealed a smile. "Is everything all right between you and Anna-Maria, Minerva?"

"Oh, everything is just peachy." She replied, barely managing to keep her voice from cracking.

Julio noticed and looked up. "Perhaps Anna-Maria and I should get another table…"

"Oh, no, really, everything is fine." If Minerva had smiled any harder, her jaw would have fractured.

"Okay, then…I'll go and order for all of us." He stood up from the table.

Catching Minerva's eye, Anna-Maria stood up too. Minerva smiled genuinely at her. _Good, now you're doing something properly. _

"Julio, will you need any help catching a waiter?"

The French girl's jaw almost dropped. This was not going to be easy.

_**Reviews are appreciated greatly!**_


	14. Wake Up Call

_**Still more chapters to come! Hey, at least you only have to read them, think about how long it's taking me to write! **_

Julio looked startled. "Did you just ask if I needed help to…what was it? _Catch _a waiter? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking it would be less difficult if I wore that silver dress Minerva wanted me to wear."

The French girl moaned and plunked her head on the table. "Okay, you win! Wear pants if you want; just wear something suitable!"

"Excellent." Anna-Maria smiled. "I will return shortly. Now all I have to do is make sure I don't step on anyone with these stilettos; you could skewer a rat with one of these!"

"What a charming vision," Artemis said. "And just as I was about to start eating." (A/N: I've said that sort of thing before. Only in my case I was describing the decomposing rodent in our backyard and how its tail bones could be seen to my mother…she was about to throw a chicken leg at my head.)

Anna-Maria pretended she hadn't heard and left.

Minerva finally lifted her head and sighed. "Well, that was a disaster!"

Julio laughed. "Well, it just goes to show you, try to change Anna-Maria and you'll suffer the consequences!"

Minerva smiled a little. "I'll remember that next time…I hope."

Julio tilted his head. "Hey, Artemis, have you and Minerva decided where you are going to get married?"

Artemis shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Minerva desires to be wed in France; I however, would rather the wedding took place near Dublin."

"We can't see eye to eye on it!"

"Have either of you ever been to India?"

Both genii shook their heads.

"I lived there for nearly a year, if you don't mind my saying it; I think India would suit you two quite well."

"Isn't India known for having lush fields and lovely beaches?" Minerva asked.

"Uh…in some parts, yes."

"And you think you'll have more luck with Anna-Maria there?" Artemis said, one eyebrow raised coolly.

"What?!" Julio choked on his water. "I hope you didn't mean what I thought you meant." Artemis remained silent. "Oh, come on, she's my best friend!"

Artemis lifted his fork. "Very well; India it is."

"Who's going to tell Anna-Maria?" Minerva asked.

"Who would like to volunteer?" Artemis looked up; neither had raised a hand or given some other indication of submission. "Alright, I volunteer."

"Good luck." The Venetian said.

"You're going to need it." Minerva added.

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"We are going WHERE?"

Artemis winced and touched his ear lightly. "No need to shout; I am standing directly in front of you, after all."

"Sorry; but…India? So far away, Artemis? I don't know – I didn't have the nicest experience the last time I was there." Anna-Maria dipped as Artemis lowered her skillfully.

"What happened?" Artemis asked, raising her back up.

"I was mistaken for an Indian actress and had to hide to avoid people asking for my autograph; it prolonged my mission by four hours." She replaced her hand on his shoulder. "By the way; you are excellent at the waltz."

"Well, you are not going on a mission this time; and thank you." He wrapped one hand around her waist and twirled her. "We are going to India for my wedding to Minerva…and for yours to Julio."

"Artemis, he hasn't asked me." She replied as she turned towards him again.

"He will; give him time – and a romantic setting."

She sighed and blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Fine, I'm coming. But if I'm mistaken for an actress again, I'm running to the nearest shuttle port."

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Anna-Maria frowned as her phone rang again. It was two in the morning for Frond's sake; who was crazy enough to call at two in the morning? Two minutes later, the ringing still persisted. Fully annoyed by this time, she snatched up the phone. "What? It's two A.M., let me sleep!"

"Anna-Maria, our flight to India leaves in six hours! You're going to make us late if you don't get out of bed soon!"

"So, who was the genius who booked a flight at eight A.M.?" She mumbled. "I'm going back to sleep, call Julio instead; I can get ready on time."

_Five minutes later…_

"_Crisalide_, wake up!"

Anna-Maria groped for the receiver sleepily. It was on the charge like it should be…and it was off. She opened her eyes. "Julio, get out!" She threw her pillow at him. "How'd you get in?"

He ducked and the pillow hit the wall behind his head. "Minerva told me you were still asleep, so I told room service you lost your key card and needed another one."

"Julio, I'm not a child anymore!"

"I know; you didn't have such thick biceps when you were six."

"Oh, shut up!" She threw another pillow at him. He had to duck really low this time; his head cracked hers.

"Ouch!" She touched the spot tenderly. "See, I told you that you were hard-headed!"

Julio rubbed his forehead and winced. "Yeah, well, your head's not exactly a bed of roses either."

"Will you get off?! You're sitting on top of my legs!"

Julio looked down at the comforter, checking his position. "No, I'm not; your knee is pressing into my thigh– quite painfully, might I add."

She pushed him off when he wasn't looking, and he ended up on the floor – again. "Do you _have_ to do that?" He asked, rubbing his head again.

"Yes. Do you _have _to wake me up?"

"Yes." He bent down and picked her up, sheets, comforter, and all and plunked her down on the floor. "I'll be waiting outside; hurry up."

She frowned and laid her head on the floor. "No, I'm sleeping. Go away."

Julio sighed. "Okay, I didn't want to do this, but I think I'll have to."

Her eyes flickered open. "Do what?"

He didn't answer; he simply slung her over his shoulder, carried her into the bathroom, dropped her into the bathtub, and ran the water.

She screamed and tried to wipe her eyes with her now thoroughly soaked t-shirt. "Julio, th – that w – water is fr – freezing!"

"I know." He handed her a small towel for her eyes. "Are you awake yet?"

She glared at him but decided not to throw anything. "Yes, I'm awake."

"Finally." He reached down and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. "Come on, you can get out now."

She leaned her weight into his as she stepped out, but then she slipped. He bent and caught her quickly, and their eyes connected. He stood slowly as she straightened, never taking his eyes off of hers; neither moved for about a minute.

Anna-Maria broke the spell as she shivered, remembering that she was still wet and cold. Julio let go of her and silently handed her another towel. She kept her eyes away from his as she reached out for it, and he flinched involuntarily as her fingers brushed against his hand.

"Julio, are you…?"

"I – I'm fine." He turned away from her. "I'll meet you outside."

She watched him leave. "Oh, Frond, what did I just do?"

_**Please review! This fic is my life! Okay…no it isn't, far from it – that's academics; but reviews would be appreciated. **_


	15. From Dublin to Delhi

_**Oh, you get the idea: review or I'll come after you all with a brownie pan to hit you on the head with – human skulls are my secret ingredient. Sorry, I meant review or I'll make brownies for my little brother instead of all of you. **_

"Artemis, which flight are we taking?" Minerva asked him, looking up at the computerized arrival and departure charts.

The male genius looked at their tickets. "Flight A – 03; Dublin to Mumbai."

"Let me guess, first class seats?"

Artemis turned. "Julio, must you constantly make such sudden entrances?"

He put his chin in his hand. "Let me think…yes."

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Of course you do. Where's Anna-Maria?"

"Last time I checked she was slapping the taxi driver for looking at her through the rear-view mirror."

"WHAT?!" Minerva exclaimed. "Slapping the TAXI DRIVER? Wait – why did you take a taxi?"

"Anna-Maria didn't want to attract a lot of attention by riding in a limo, apparently. And I was joking; she didn't slap the driver."

Minerva looked relieved.

"She kind of kicked him, punched him in the gut, and gave him a lecture on proper etiquette."

"She did what?!"

"No wait, that was the hotel manager."

Artemis rolled his eyes again and smiled. "Quite humorous, Julio; what really happened?"

"I was hoping she would punch the taxi driver – she made him carry all of Minerva's shoes instead."

"Hey, I didn't have that many shoes!" Minerva said defensively.

"The boxes took up two thirds of the taxi." Julio replied bluntly.

"Oh…" Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Maybe I didn't need that many."

"I'll say you didn't."

Minerva turned. "Anna-Maria, you made it!"

"I told you I would be on time." The half-fairy grinned. "Oh, and by the way, this guy here should get an extra tip for carrying all your footwear." She gestured to the man just behind her, who really did look like he was going to collapse due to the weight of the boxes he was carrying.

Minerva reached for her purse. "Clearly, this is going to cost me…a lot."

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Anna-Maria looked at Julio. He had been sitting next to her since the beginning of their flight; it had been three hours, and he still hadn't said anything to her.

"Listen, Julio, about this morning –"

"Forget it. It – it was my fault." He kept his eyes on the magazine on his lap.

"Julio, it's not like you did anything horrible! I slipped and you caught me – what's wrong with that?" She laid her hand over his gently. "You're my best friend, have you forgotten that?"

He looked away. When he finally spoke, his voice was so soft she almost didn't hear him. "When I saw you again, it was as if you had ever left. Then, when I saw your eyes, they told me how much things had changed. What you said this morning, you were right; you're not a child anymore. Maybe you needed me then, but not anymore." He slipped his hand out from under hers. "And you never will again."

"Julio, does that even matter? I _want_ you to be around me – isn't that just as important?"

He was silent.

"Julio, please, look at me." A tear slipped from her eye. "Please."

He lifted his head slowly and turned to look at her. His expression immediately changed when he saw the tear run down her cheek. Without thinking, he reached out and wiped it. "I'm sorry; don't cry."

She wiped her eyes quickly. "Forget it. I just…nothing."

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped. Silently, he stood and left. Artemis joined her a minute later. "Problems?"

"Artemis, I love you and you know I do. But Julio – I don't know what's going on with him anymore. He's blocking me out…the same way I did."

Artemis took her hand and raised it to his lips, his first intimate gesture towards her since her return. "Yes, but you were fine afterwards, right? He will be as well, soon." He squeezed her hand affectionately and turned to leave.

"Artemis?"

He turned back. "Yes?"

"I love you."

"And I will never stop loving you."

"Never?"

"Never."

_**Aw…so heartfelt! And Artemis used to be terrible at emotions – worse than I am…or maybe a little better. I hate expressing my emotions; it only gets me into trouble.**_


	16. Dreaming Nightmares

_**Let's see how they all like it in India, shall we? **_

Minerva swatted at another mosquito. "Why are these nasty little blood-suckers coming after me?"

Anna-Maria slapped the back of her neck.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Did you want me to let the mosquito suck your blood?" She asked sarcastically. "Didn't you put on that repellent I gave you during the flight?"

"No; it smelt odd."

"Okay, if you want malaria…" She held out the repellent.

"Oh, give me that already!" Grabbing the bottle, Minerva immediately sprayed herself with the repellent…then she screamed when the mosquito died and landed in her hair (A/N – just kidding).

"Are we at the hotel yet?" Anna-Maria asked.

"No, not yet." Artemis replied, looking at his watch. "However, we should be arriving within a five minute time span."

She looked out of the window. "This rickshaw feels so…"

"Bumpy?" Julio offered.

"Uh…no. I was going to say 'exotic'."

"Have you two ever agreed on _anything_?" Artemis asked, glancing at them through the rear-view mirror of the rickshaw.

"Once," Julio said. "When my mom let my dad buy her a yellow Cadillac. We agreed it looked like a banana."

Anna-Maria rolled her eyes. "I never said it looked like a banana, _you_ did."

"Can you stop talking about bananas?! I'm getting hungry." Minerva said.

Artemis sighed. "Remind me never to go anywhere with you three together again."

Anna-Maria leaned in next to him. "That goes double for me. Butler, you poor guy, you must be getting a head-ache from all of this."

The bodyguard smiled and squeezed her hand warmly. "No, I'm fine, thank you for your concern."

"Are we there yet?" Julio and Minerva asked simultaneously.

Artemis and Anna-Maria looked back at them. "Not yet!" was their simultaneous reply.

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Minerva sighed happily and looked over at Anna-Maria as she unlocked her door. "Getting connected rooms was such a great idea!"

The former LEP commander groaned inwardly. She was getting a little tired of the older girl's perkiness. After all, it was nearly midnight. Apparently lack of sleep had an odd affect on Minerva.

She stifled a yawn. "Yes, Minerva, an excellent idea. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. Good night."

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_The crash of thunder…a baby crying…a woman screaming…a young girl struggling. _

"_Let go of me! Leave my little sister alone!" The young elf implored the gang of warlocks. "My family never did anything to you, leave them alone!" She struggled against the goblins that held her arms tightly._

_An elderly warlock, a gnome, grinned. "Your parents had you, didn't they? I think that's enough." _

"_What do you mean?" The red-headed elf continued to struggle. "I never did anything wrong!" _

"_Oh, but on the contrary, my dear Catalina, you did do something wrong." _

"_What?" The elf demanded, her light green eyes almost yellow in the rainy light._

"_You associated with a Mud Man, of course." _

"_Everyone does that!" _

"_During the Great War? Mud Men are our enemies, young elf, and they must be treated as such; not befriended." _

"_LET GO OF ME!" Catalina screamed as a goblin burned her wrist and shoulder. She bit down on her lower lip and fell to her knees from the pain. _

"_Of course, Catalina. You will be released once you swear on the Book never to meet that human – Robert Fowl, yes? Ever again. _

"_I will swear nothing." She said through clenched teeth._

"_Very well, then. As a traitor to the People, I have no choice but to have you tortured and finally, killed." He signaled to the goblins without so much as a blink._

_Catalina's screams of pain faded into the night as flames bit into her skin, threatening to eliminate her. She fell into the grass, but the pain continued. A pair of strong arms gripped her shoulders suddenly._

_She looked up, expecting to see the old gnome with a sickly grin on his face. Instead, she saw Robert Fowl, blood oozing from a cut on his cheek. "Run!" He ordered. _

_Catalina looked at his eyes and saw that he was fighting the Mesmer's effects. "Run!" He repeated. _

"_I won't leave you!" _

"_They'll kill you!" He insisted, turning to seize a goblin by the throat, throwing it into the icy brook nearby. "Go, now!" _

"_But, they'll –"_

"_Catalina, now!" _

"_Robert, look out!" Her warning came too late; four goblins hit him from behind, cackling as the Mud Man yelled from the pain their burns caused. _

"_Don't hurt him!" She tried to help him, but arms grabbed her from behind. She struggled violently, but the viselike grip on her tightened. "What are you going to do to him?" She finally asked, her tears mingling with the rain on her face. _

"_What should have been done long ago." _

_Fairies running…Robert's slow and unsteady breaths…Catalina's continued cries of protest._

_Robert looked up at the gnome, hatred in his eyes. "Let her go." _

"_Now, why would I do something like that?" The gnome demanded, flicking a switch. "Like it? This machine is the latest in fairy technology – too bad you won't remember it. This machine will erase everything from your memory that is fairy-related, including Catalina. What is she to you anyway? A puny, insignificant red-head?"_

"_I love her." Robert replied, never taking his eyes off of the gnome, yet not making eye contact. _

"_No, Robert!" Catalina cried. "Don't admit to anything!" _

"_Shut her mouth, will you?" The gnome said before turning back to the Mud Man. "So, you love her, do you? You do realize you will have to pay for that?" _

_Catalina's screams were muffled as she beat the walls in frustration. They couldn't wipe his memory!_

_Robert looked directly at her then. "I'll always love you, Catalina." _

_A tear slipped from her eyes as he lost consciousness and her gag was removed. "No." She said softly._

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"No, no! NO!!"

"Anna-Maria, wake up this instant!"

The Italian girl felt arms shaking her shoulders and opened her eyes. "Minerva? What are you doing?"

"I was going to ask you the same question. You've been screaming in your sleep for the past ten minutes! I had to unlock the door between our rooms and wake you up to make you stop. What happened? Did you have a nightmare?"

The other girl pushed her bangs back from her eyes, her face and neck drenched in sweat. "It was...a living nightmare."

"Do you want me to get you a glass of water or something?" Minerva asked.

"No, I'll be fine soon, thanks." Anna-Maria hoped she sounded more confident than she really was. "Go back to sleep."

_**Okay, this chapter's done. **_


	17. Day at the Beach

_**You know the drill, review or…whatever. I'll send viruses into your computers. **_

"Why are we at the beach?" Anna-Maria asked Artemis.

"Apparently Minerva and Julio think of it as a 'romantic setting'." He replied, glancing at her through his mirrored sunglasses.

"But what has that got to do with Julio and me? As of yet there hasn't been a single hint as to whether what his feelings for me could be."

"As I said beforehand; you need to give him time."

"Where did Minerva go?" She looked around them. "I don't see her anywhere."

"She left to go to the restrooms. Apparently her pink sunglasses contrast sharply with her shoes – or something of the sort. Which reminds me," He glanced at her again. "You look particularly feminine today."

Anna-Maria lifted her own blue-tinted sunglasses and looked down at her blue tank top and white knee-length white slacks. "Oh. I needed to wear something I didn't like too much in case of sea salt. I don't want to ruin anything I like; which left this outfit."

"That explains it." Artemis turned and glanced behind him for a moment. "By the way, Minerva has returned."

Anna-Maria ducked until her nose touched the sand to avoid getting jumped on by the French girl who apparently felt like playing leapfrog. "Minerva, do you really need to do that?"

"Maybe." She smiled at Artemis. "Artemis, why are you wearing an Armani suit to the beach?"

He lifted his sunglasses for a moment. "As opposed to…?"

"Never mind. You weren't planning on swimming anyway, were you?" Seeing his blank expression, she answered the question herself. "I thought not."

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Minerva peered through her pink sunglasses and stared. "Uh…Anna-Maria, you might want to look at this."

Anna-Maria looked up from her medical journal. "What?"

Minerva pointed to the shore. "That. Julio's talking to an Indian girl."

Artemis glanced in their direction. "So he is."

"So what?" Anna-Maria said. "It's not like he's asking for her phone number."

Minerva swallowed uncomfortably. "He didn't have to; she just gave it to him."

"What?!" Anna-Maria perched her sunglasses on top of her head. "Hmm…think this may be serious, Artemis?"

"It certainly _looks_ serious."

She moved closer to him so she wouldn't be overheard. "So what do I do?"

"Well, we are in India. He knows Hindi, so do you…any connections?"

She gaped at him. "You don't mean…aw, Artemis! Have you ever _heard _me sing? That's because I don't!"

"No, but I would like to hear you sing." He turned away from his laptop to look at her. "Besides, one's voice sounds different to others than it does to oneself, remember?"

She sighed and stood up. "Fine, I'll do it. But you better be listening because this is for you and I won't be doing it again any time soon."

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"What's she doing?" Minerva asked Artemis.

"Preparing to steal Julio's attention."

She glanced at him for a moment. "How? Well, if it works…"

Anna-Maria looked over her shoulder at them and winked. She approached Julio and the girl next to him cautiously.

"Julio's walking with the girl along the shorelines! He must be serious, and he's just met the girl!" Minerva screamed.

Artemis held his ear and winced. "Not in my ears, Minerva! Just watch Anna-Maria; she's bound to have something up her sleeve."

He was right; she did. She overtook the two and met Julio face-to-face. He looked at her, puzzled, as the girl at his arm tried to lure him away.

Anna-Maria looked into his eyes the way he had looked into hers before and laid a hand on her heart, starting to sing. "Mera dil tera deewana, main tho tujhpe marti hoon (my heart is crazy about you, I will die for you)."

Julio lifted his mirrored sunglasses; his jaw dropped.

"Translation please?" Minerva said. Artemis told her what the words meant; her jaw dropped low enough to crack.

"Have you ever heard Anna-Maria sing?" Minerva asked Artemis.

"No," the male genius replied. "And apparently, neither has Julio."

"Mera dil tera deewana main tho tujhpe marti hoon." The half-fairy girl continued to sing as the Indian girl led the Italian boy away. "Sari duniya se kahedungi, sari duniya se kahedungi, tujhse pyaar main karti hoon (I will declare to the whole world, I love you)!" She spread her arms out wide, her hair blowing in the breeze. Julio stopped in his tracks, unable to tear himself away.

"Mera dil tera deewana, main tho tujhpe marti hoon; haan, mera dil tera deewana, main tho tujhpe marti hoon (My heart is crazy about you, I will die for you; yes, my heart is crazy for you and I will die for you)!" Anna-Maria smirked as the other girl was forced to drag him away. This was starting to be fun. Maybe it was a little manipulative, but it was fun!

Minerva smiled. "Oh, that's so sweet! Anna-Maria's singing for him, and Julio doesn't even know how to react!"

The way she said it made Artemis chuckle despite himself, which he quickly disguised as a cough. Minerva looked at him. "Did I miss something humorous?"

Anna-Maria walked around Julio and the Indian girl, her head cocked, looking just like an innocent girl in love. Well, two out of three isn't so bad (A/N: can any of you figure out which three I'm referring to?). "Akela tu hain (You're all alone)," She leaned back into him, almost toppling onto him. "Akeli main hoon (I'm alone)." He pushed up on her elbows, moving her back into a standing position.

Julio walked away with the Indian girl beside him. Anna-Maria followed, of course. "Akelepan se, jiya darta hai, hai (The loneliness scares the life out of me)!" She walked up to them and took up his other side, only to have him move away. "Chupata kyun hai, bata de dilbar, (Why do you hide? Tell me my beloved,) husn pe mere, tu bhi marta hai (you will die for me too)!"

Minerva blinked and grabbed Artemis' laptop.

"A 'please' would have been nice!" He retorted. "What are you doing?!"

Her fingers ran across the keyboard frantically. "I'm finding a website I can use to translate whatever Anna-Maria says. You don't need it, do you? After all, you know Hindi."

"Yes, but I was –"

"Shh! I found a translator! Um…how do you spell d-di – that word Anna-Maria said in the beginning?"

Artemis rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Anna-Maria, Julio, and the Indian girl (whose name was Sunehri). He wasn't the only one watching; Anna-Maria's antics had captured the attention of several natives – apparently they found it as entertaining as a Bollywood movie.

She was leaning on Julio's right shoulder, avoiding the glares Sunehri was sending her way. "Madhoshi chayi hai dil pe, ab to bilqul hosh nahin (Senselessness has woven on my heart, now I have completely lost my senses)!"

"If I did not know better," Artemis said softly to himself. "I would have agreed readily." He winced softly.

Minerva looked up from the laptop screen. "What happened?"

"Anna-Maria's singing became off-key near the end of the verse."

"Only slightly; I barely noticed it." Minerva replied defensively. "Give her a break; it's not like she's had time to take singing lessons!"

"Isme hai teri bhi khatayen; mera hi sab dosh nahin (For this you are as guilty as I am)!" Anna-Maria met his eyes without hesitation. "Ab to bas main sham savere teri aahen bharti hoon (Nowadays all I do is sigh over you day and night)."  
Minerva frowned as the translation popped up. "That doesn't sound like Anna-Maria at all." Artemis silently admitted that it didn't.

Julio turned to look at her, surprise and…something hidden were written all over his face. Sunehri chatted away to him in Hindi, trying to distract him.

"Mera dil tera deewana, main to tujhpe marti hoon!" Not to be outdone, Anna-Maria walked up to him and removed his sunglasses, forcing him to follow her in order to get them back. "Kawari main hoon, kawara tu hain; rahenge kab tak kawaren socho (I'm single, so are you; till how long will we be like this)?"

Julio asked her softly for his sunglasses. She appreciated his patience and handed them to him, taking hold of his collar as she did so. "Sulgate dil mein bujhe jaate hai; yeh jalte armaan, hamare socho (My heart is just burning without flames; but my desires keep burning on, think of them)!"

Minerva bit her lip. "I thought it was Julio who was supposed to be chasing Anna-Maria; not the other way around!"

"Love makes people act in ways they normally would not even dream of, Minerva." Artemis replied coolly.

"Teri nazar ka tir sanam, mere jigar se paar hua (the arrow from your eyes has pierced my heart)! Betabi ke is aalam mein ab na jeena dushwar hua (I can't live in this environment of desperation now)!"

Sunehri looked at her again, this time with a little less puzzlement and more understanding.

Anna-Maria continued, "Tere labon ko choom lu aaja (come, let me kiss you)," She moved in next to him and bumped Sunehri out of the way with her hip. "Logonse kya darti hoon (I'm not afraid of anyone)!"

Minerva laughed despite herself. "Now _that_ sounds like Anna-Maria!"

Sunehri frowned at her and convinced Julio to take her somewhere else.

"Sari duniya se kehdungi, sari duniya se Kehdungi…"

Julio moved away with little reluctance.

Anna-Maria stopped where she was and looked after him sorrowfully. "Tujhse pyar main karti hoon! Mera dil tera deewana; main to tujhpe marti hoon! Mera dil tera deewana; main to tujhpe marti hoon…"

Artemis watched silently as Julio left, one eyebrow raised.

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"Julio, is there a problem?"

The Venetian man spun around, obviously anxious about something. "What? Oh, hello, Artemis. No, no problem, I just…that is to say I…"

"You have a dilemma of some sort." Artemis finished for him. "Would you care to tell me what it is?"

"Well, you saw and heard Anna-Maria at the beach today, didn't you?" Artemis nodded silently. "Well, how am I supposed to cope with that!?"

Artemis felt slightly puzzled, a very rare occurrence. "I believe I do not follow. A confession of love has left you feeling…anxious? I am afraid I do not see how."

"My parents! They…they – they're arranging my wedding! I was already engaged when you met me at Anna-Maria's inherited property."

"Oh, I see your dilemma. Although…what about that Indian girl at the beach today?"

"Who, Sunehri? I studied in India for a while; she's just an old college friend."

"I see…you have been engaged for over three months and you did not bother to convey that truth to me or Anna-Maria? I believe you are at fault there."

Julio sat on the bed with his head in his hands. "I know, I know! And the worst thing is, I lumph fer."

"Pardon? I did not quite catch that."

"I…love her."

"Who? Your fiancée?"

"No, Anna-Maria!"

Artemis felt ready to slap himself. He had heard that love was never easy; but he had not expected such complicated dilemmas! "Oh. Have you tried explaining to your parents that you do not wish to marry the girl of their choosing?"

"No, how can I? The engagement has already been announced; Arianna and her family will be humiliated if the engagement is broken!"

"Nevertheless, you should at least notify your parents; or at least Anna-Maria."

"I can't! She'll feel horrible! Can you…?"

"I might as well."

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"What?! Julio is engaged? Oh, Frond, this is terrible! He must feel so horrible!" Anna-Maria cried, pacing around her room.

Artemis watched her. Other than being clumsy, she also worried too much about the littlest things; either way, she was going to hurt herself if she wasn't careful. "Yes, and I am afraid that Julio's parents and his fiancée are arriving in India the same day as Mother, Father, and the twins."

"What?! _Mamma mia! Io amo tu, e Julio ama me; ma ha una fidanzata… Artemis, che problema! È irrisoria!_ (I love you, and Julio loves me; but he has a fiancée…Artemis, what a problem! This is ridiculous!)"

Artemis sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. "We have to get Julio to admit his feelings to his fiancée and his parents, and soon."

"What?! Artemis, you don't know Julio! He…he won't be able to break an engagement just like that." She stood up and grabbed her suitcase. "Maybe it's best if I just leave now; then you and Minerva…and Julio and his fiancée can get married in peace."

Artemis reached out and gripped her wrist as she walked past him. She turned her head to face him after a moment. "Anna-Maria, do you really want Julio to marry someone he doesn't love?"

"No, but…in other circumstances he may not have been able to."

"And in other circumstances he may never have fallen in love with you. However, in these circumstances he has; since we may not be married, at least he should be united with the one he loves."

Anna-Maria looked at him. He hadn't looked at her once in the past hour. "Artemis, it won't be easy for you to watch me marry him, will it?"

"It will pose as one of the most difficult challenges I have ever faced; however, love is about sacrifice. If sacrificing my love for your happiness and Julio's is what needs to be done, it will be done."

"Artemis, you have to keep Minerva happy. Promise me you will." She watched him silently for a moment. "Artemis, swear it on my life that you will keep Minerva happy."

He inhaled sharply and turned towards the window. Making a promise on another's life was serious. He closed his eyes and meditated for a few minutes. Finally, he opened his eyes. "I swear by you that I will do all I can to ensure Minerva's happiness."

_**I am really beginning to hate these author's notes. REVIEW – there, that goes for the rest of the story. **_


	18. Reunion

_**Okay, let's meet Julio's parents and his fiancée, shall we? One more thing, Anna-Maria is NOT a Mary-Sue – her past and background aren't completely known or described in any of my stories. That done, keep reading; you might find a small surprise.**_

"_Anna-Maria, tu é bella!_"

Anna-Maria whirled around, startled. To her extreme embarrassment, her Indian skirt flared out when she turned. "Julio, stop doing that!"

He grinned and looked her over. "You look just like a native! Mother and Father will be overjoyed to see you!"

"You didn't tell them I was here?"

"I thought we'd surprise them."

"Nice surprise." She turned and flipped the customary veil, called a dupatta, over her shoulder, smacking Julio in the head squarely. She smiled mischievously and went back to her laptop.

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Artemis frowned. Julio had not mentioned that he had a younger sister, Marisa, who was eleven years old. This wasn't a problem as the Fowl twins had had no difficulty befriending her. The problem was that although his parents were conferring with Gaspard Paradizo, neither Julio's parents or his own would speak to one another. The only connection between them appeared to be Anna-Maria; only she would be able to get them to talk to one another.

_Where is she? _He thought. _Either she is glued to her laptop or Minerva has trapped her in yet another fashion misfit…hopefully it is not the latter. _

"_Anna-Maria! Tu, ecco?_" Julio's mother, Julietta Ferro cried out.

Artemis turned at the same time as his mother and father. Anna-Maria ran to meet her self-proclaimed surrogate parents. Julietta hugged her tightly. "Oh, my dear, we've missed you so much."

"What? Not so much as a postcard, _Crisalide_?"

Anna-Maria looked up at Julio's father. "Sorry, Uncle Antonello (A/N: he's not really her uncle, she just calls him that because he was always a close family friend, like her mother's brother); I've just been really busy the past few years."

She turned to the tall girl with honey-colored hair beside them. "You must be Arianna."

The girl looked down at her (A/N: being half-fairy, Anna-Maria's, well…**short** according to human standards) and studied her with copper-colored eyes. "I may be." She answered finally. "So, you're an old friend of Julio's?"

"Not that old, I hope." Anna-Maria caught Artemis looking at her; he gestured towards Julio with a movement of his head. She ignored it and walked past him (A/N: Artemis, not Julio). "Mr. and Mrs. Fowl, David and Diana; it's so nice to see you all again!"

Angeline smiled at her. "Hello, Anna-Maria. I haven't seen you in quite a while. How are things between you and Arty?"

"Just as they should be, Mrs. Fowl. He'll make Minerva very happy; she's a lucky girl."

"Not as lucky as you, I think." Artemis Senior interjected.

Anna-Maria smiled half-heartedly. She had forgotten to do something, what had it been? "Trust me, Mr. Fowl; Minerva is much luckier than I am. I have yet to find someone for me." She began to feel light-headed. "Excuse me, will you? I need to speak with…someone." She walked away from them, hoping her gait was steadier than she felt.

Julio came up next to her. "Listen, _Crisalide_," He spoke in a low voice. "Did Artemis tell you…?" Anna-Maria nodded. "Good. Look, Anna-Maria, I…I don't know how to do this."

"Just tell them the truth, Julio." She lifted a hand to her forehead shakily and pretended to shift a lock of hair behind her ear, masking her shaky movements. What had she forgotten to do? "They'll understand. But you have to tell them soon."

Minerva approached them. "Julio, your fiancée is so…"

"Impulsive?" He offered.

"Actually, I was going to say 'nice but she seems a bit shy'."

"It's never one word with you, is it Minerva?" Anna-Maria teased, folding her hands behind her back deliberately in an attempt to hide their consistent shaking.

"I guess not." Minerva looked at her closer. "Hey, Anna-Maria, are you alright?"

"Hmm?" The Italian girl looked up. "Oh, yeah, sure." The shaking grew harder.

Julio looked at her as well. "Yeah, _Crisalide_, you really don't look well. Did you…"

His voice faded as the corners of Anna-Maria's vision darkened. Her eyes widened for a moment as she remembered what she had forgotten to do. "Oh, Frond." Her world went black. Someone caught her as she fell, but she couldn't tell who. Her head lolled back and she lost consciousness.

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"She's gaining consciousness!" Anna-Maria couldn't recognize the voice as she groggily opened her eyes to see Angeline, Artemis Senior, Artemis Junior, David, Diana, Marisa, Julietta, Arianna, Antonello, Minerva and Julio all watching her. All of them looked concerned. Angeline, Artemis I and II, David, Diana, and Minerva looked puzzled as well.

"Are you alright, Anna-Maria?" Julio asked her.

She tried to say something, but realized that an oxygen mask was over her mouth. Instead, she frantically moved her hands, trying to tell them.

Julio reached out and pulled the mask over her head. "The nurse said you wouldn't need this anymore after gaining consciousness. You forgot to take your insulin injection, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah, I did. I haven't taken it for a few days."

Julietta sighed. "Anna-Maria, your mother warned you of this when you were younger!"

"I know, Aunt Julietta, it just slipped my mind; I'm sorry."

"You have to take care of yourself, Anna-Maria." Artemis Senior told her.

"You may be used to putting others before yourself, but you can't always do that." Antonello contributed.

Anna-Maria sighed and laid her head on the pillow. No wonder Artemis and his family as well as Minerva looked puzzled. They were the only ones in the room who hadn't known of her ailment beforehand. "How long was I unconscious?"

"A couple of hours." David replied.

"The doctors said you were lucky you went so long without your injection." Diana added.

Anna-Maria smiled half-heartedly and tried to sit up; unfortunately her fainting incident and the episode following it had left her very weak. Arianna supported her as she positioned the bed properly. The copper-eyed girl squeezed the other Italian's hand warmly. "You'll get through this; you've got all of us on your side." She whispered.

Anna-Maria smiled at her and squeezed back weakly. "Thank you."

Artemis II watched her out of the corner of his eyes. She knew what he was thinking; _we need to talk_. She sighed and lay back on the bed. "How long are you all going to be here?"

"The nurse said you need more rest, so we're leaving for now; but we'll come back soon." Angeline answered. "Take care, Anna-Maria."

Artemis Junior stayed behind. He didn't say anything for a while, just paced around the room, checking the doctor's charts and reports absently. Anna-Maria watched him silently. She had a lot to explain.

"Why did you never tell me you were diabetic?" He asked finally.

"Sorry, but…you weren't the only one. I didn't tell anybody after the LEP retrieved me. I wanted to start anew, but I couldn't completely because of those insulin injections. I hacked into Foaly's network and manipulated my file so my tests wouldn't register me as diabetic."

"How long have you had diabetes?"

"I've had type 1 diabetes since I was born. It was the second thing that the nurse taking care of me noticed. The first things she noticed were my ears."

"Have you forgotten to take your injections before?"

"A couple of times when I was younger. When I became commander of the LEP, it got even harder to hide. Chix Verbil nearly caught me with a needle in my arm once."

"Anything else you neglected to tell me?"

She flinched involuntarily at the pain in his voice. "I…I have a life expectancy of 81.3 years. And, that's only because of my fairy half. Otherwise, I would have only lived to be 33.7."

Artemis glanced up at her.

"I calculated it." She replied. "With my maternal history of ailments, diabetes wasn't unusual. My mother actually suffered from lung cancer – sometimes I wonder if that car accident was really an accident or if she killed herself because she found a good excuse to give her directors and producers for her death."

"Nobody in Haven knows?"

"No. Julio and his parents only know because they were close to my own family. My diabetes isn't severe to the point where life becomes a burden for me, thankfully. Most days I'm able to forget for a while that I actually have this disease. It won't stop me from living my life unless I forget to take an injection of insulin, like I did a couple of days ago."

"No more secrets?"

"None; I'm sorry."

"Do you know how anxious I was – how we all were when you fainted?"

"No, I can't imagine it – really, I am sorry."

"Do not worry about it too much; it's not good for your health." He hovered over her for a moment, kissed her cheek, and left.


	19. Playing Games

_**New chapter, review and…oh, Frond, just review already so I can stop writing these author's notes!**_

Anna-Maria woke up to find Arianna and Julio in the room with her. She brushed her bangs from her eyes and smiled at them. "Either of you know how much longer I have to stay in this hospital?"

Arianna looked up and smiled. "Only one more day."

Julio winked at her. "I have something I need to tell Arianna and my parents."

"And you have to tell them in a hospital?"

"No, in front of you."

"Why –" She was cut off by the arrival of Julietta and Antonello Ferro. "_Salve_, Uncle Antonello, Aunt Julietta!"

"Hello to you too, Anna-Maria."

Julietta smiled at her and motherly brushed her hair away from her eyes. "Julio has something he wants to tell us, he says it concerns you."

"Does it, Julio?" Anna-Maria asked him.

He smiled as he replied. "Yes, it does."

Everyone turned to him. "Well?"

Julio took a deep breath and began to pace around the room as he spoke. "Mother, Father, I can't marry Arianna. I don't love her; however, I do love Anna-Maria. I want to marry the _crisalide_ I've always known." He turned and looked at them all. "I hope you understand." To his astonishment, Arianna, Julietta, and Antonello began laughing. "Did I miss a joke?"

Anna-Maria blinked and looked up at him. "I don't get it either. What's going on?"

Julietta stopped and wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. "_Julio_, _mio figlio_, you were never going to marry Arianna."

His jaw dropped. "_Non capiso _( I don't understand)."

"_Anch'io _(Me, too)." Anna-Maria added.

Arianna smiled. "Julio, have you ever checked the family photo album? Of course I'm not marrying you; I'm your third cousin!"

"Twice removed." Julietta and Antonello simultaneously added.

"Right."

"The truth is, Julio; we knew from your behavior that there had to be a girl you were interested in. Since you didn't tell us, we decided to stage this little drama so that you would tell us on your own."

Julio leaned in next to Anna-Maria and whispered in her ear. "This…is quite awkward."

Anna-Maria had to agree. "It does make sense, though. Your father is an Italian actor after all."

He glanced at her. "Not helping."

"Sorry; what do you expect? I've been in the hospital for the past two days because of an extremely low blood sugar."

Julietta cleared her throat loudly. "Do you have a cough, Mom? We're in the perfect place if you need cough syrup." Julio said.

Julietta raised an eyebrow as Arianna and Antonello burst out laughing. Even Anna-Maria chuckled a little. "Julio Antonello Ferro, you know that's not what I meant. I think you're forgetting something."

"Your pain-reliever capsules?"

"No, _mamma mia – che ragazzo! _Julio, you just admitted that you love Anna-Maria!"

"Mom, she's in a hospital bed. I was hoping for a more romantic setting."

Julietta slapped her own forehead. "Heaven help us."

"Okay, fine! Although it would help if you all were not watching me."

Arianna shook her head in disbelief and led Julietta and Antonello out of the door. Anna-Maria wanted to run out of the room. "Uh…Julio, I –"

"Ssh, _Crisalide_; let me speak. I know you've had a lot of unhappiness in your life, but I always want to keep you happy. Seeing your smile makes me smile."

Anna-Maria forced a half-smile.

"Not that smile."

She smiled for real then.

"That's the one. Anna-Maria, I promise that no matter what, I will always put your happiness before my own. Will you marry me?"

She felt her heart speed up until she could hear her heartbeat. She took a deep breath and smiled at him. "I will, Julio."

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Artemis sighed as Minerva looked over catalogs. "Now, we need flowers at the ceremony, but which ones?"

"Ones that look nice in the church?" Artemis offered.

"Yes, but which ones are those?"

"The ones in the catalog Artemis is holding."

Minerva jumped. "Julio, why do you always do that?"

Julio sat next to Artemis. "Because it's fun. By the way, I proposed to Anna-Maria today."

Minerva dropped her catalog and leaned in. "Oh, I'm bored with flowers; tell us what happened!"

Artemis looked at him. "Yes, Julio, do tell."

"Well, it turned out that Arianna is actually my third cousin –"

"Twice removed!" Someone added from the joint room.

"…Right. Anyway, my parents just got her to go along with them so that I would tell them my real feelings."

"Do your parents do things like that very often?" Minerva asked.

"Actually, yes. So, I asked Anna-Maria to marry me, and she accepted."

_Of course she did_. Artemis thought. _She promised she would. _

Minerva screamed with joy, a bit too loudly. Artemis and Julio held their ears for nearly a full minute before she stopped. "This is great! We can have a double wedding and you and Anna-Maria will be married at the same time as Artemis and me!"

"But your wedding is in two weeks." Julio reminded her.

"Yes, but arrangements are already underway; we can just double the amounts of flowers, food, and other services! And…increase the guest list. Artemis already has his tuxedo, do you?" Julio nodded. "Great! I still have to get my wedding dress, and I was planning to go on Thursday – I'll just take Anna-Maria with me and we can shop together!"

"Why do I feel that you are going to be doing most of the shopping?" Julio said.

Artemis smiled. "Coincidentally, I was having the same feeling."

Minerva frowned. "Okay, I'm going to need help there. Who's going to convince Anna-Maria to go shopping with me?"

Julio leaped off the sofa. "I, uh…have to go and…arrange my sister's school textbooks; I'll see you later…bye!"

Minerva watched as he ran from the room before turning to Artemis. "Please, Arty?"

Artemis looked up from his medical journal. "I had to inform her of our trip to India; you have to tell her this time." He returned his gaze to a computerized image of a DNA strand. "And please refrain from calling me 'Arty'." He added in a softer voice.

"What was that?"

"Nothing of vast importance."

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"Why are we here, again?" Anna-Maria asked.

"We have to get our wedding dresses, remember? Don't refuse this time; you _have _to wear a dress to your own wedding!"

Anna-Maria mumbled something and crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, fine!"

"Did you take your insulin injection today?"

The half-fairy wanted to punch something. "Yes, I did. _This_ is why I never told anyone that I was diabetic!"

"Have you checked your blood sugar?" Minerva persisted as Diana just watched them silently, her chin in her hand.

"Ye…no."

"Did you bring your meter?" Minerva held her hand out for it.

Anna-Maria dug in the pockets of her jeans for a few moments. "Here." She handed it to Minerva as she cleaned her index finger with an alcohol swab.

Minerva held it as the other girl pricked herself and placed a drop of the blood on the machine. "See? It's normal." Anna-Maria told her.

Minerva studied the readings for a moment. "Okay, you're normal. Now, let's get you into a dress as soon as possible. People are starting to stare." She glanced at the other girl's red-and-white short-sleeved tee-shirt (A/N: Whoa, that was a hyphenated nightmare!) and fitted blue-jeans. "Besides, you look like a complete tomboy."

"I _am _a complete tomboy." Anna-Maria reminded her.

"Whatever." Minerva walked past her, looking over her shoulder to add, "Come on, Diana! We girls are going to shop!"

Anna-Maria frowned and ran after her. "Hey, at least give me my meter back!"

The French girl looked at the meter still in her hand and tossed it to the Italian girl. Anna-Maria caught it and pocketed it with a frown. "Be careful, I only brought one with me."

Diana looked from one to the other and sighed. "You two are friends now, right?"

"More or less." Anna-Maria replied.

"One more question. Marisa is going to be Anna-Maria's flower-girl and I'm going to be Minerva's; but Beau thinks he's too old to be a ring-bearer so Davy has to take the job…who's going to be Anna-Maria and Julio's ring-bearer?"

"Good question, Di." Anna-Maria raised an eyebrow in Minerva's direction. "So, Miss Paradizo, since you're the self-proclaimed wedding planner…who _is _going to be my ring-bearer?"

"Uh...perhaps David can bear both rings."

Anna-Maria blinked. "That's a horrible idea."

"Davy could handle it, though." Diana added.

"Okay, that's settled; now let's find some dresses!"

Both Anna-Maria and Diana looked crestfallen. "Come on, Diana." The older female told her. "We might as well do something while we're here."

"We could always help Minerva find her dress first." The Fowl twin offered.

"Good point." The Italian girl picked up a white strapless gown. "Think she'll like this one?"

"Artemis will, probably." Diana replied.

"Minerva!" Anna-Maria called.

The blonde appeared after a moment, carrying a gown with a halter bodice. "What?"

Anna-Maria held up the gown she had picked up. "What do you think of this one?"

Minerva studied it for a moment before looking at the other girl. "Hold it up a little higher." Anna-Maria was puzzled, but she complied. "A little to the left, now." She moved it again. "There, that's perfect!"

"You haven't even tried it on yet." Diana told her.

"I'm not going to, Anna-Maria is!"

Anna-Maria's jaw dropped. "I'm going to WHAT?!"

"Come on, Anna-Maria; you'd look great in that dress! Julio will wonder what he was thinking by considering not telling his parents the truth!"

"Sure, I'll just give Uncle Antonello an excuse to crack a joke; like how I was replaced by a pretty alien…or something of the sort. This dress will make me look like a twig with hair!"

"No, it won't! Just try it on!"

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"Anna-Maria, come out of there!" Diana called. "You've been in that dressing room for fifteen minutes already!"

"I am not coming out! I look ridiculous!"

"Anna-Maria, come out this instant!" Minerva ordered.

The Italian complied, grumbling as she came out. Minerva shrieked loudly with glee. "Anna-Maria, once Julio sees you, he's going to lose his mind!"

"I hope not." The brunette said, brushing an invisible fleck of dust from her shoulder.

Diana frowned, noticing the small crescent-shaped scar along her collarbone. "Has that always been there?"

Minerva noticed it then and studied it. "I've never seen that before."

"What?" Anna-Maria covered the scar with her palm. "Oh, it's just an old birthmark…" Her eyes sprang out of focus, her hand still covering the scar. Her vision focused on an image of a redheaded elf, Catalina Root. The elf was writing in a journal, a different one than the one Anna-Maria had found in the cave.

When the elf tilted her head, Anna-Maria could see that she had not changed much in appearance; instead the years had taken their toll on her eyes. Her eyes, once a brilliant green, were now a dull yellow-green color. Her vision shifted to the paper the elf was writing on. She had been writing the three tasks needed to break the curse.

Anna-Maria could read the first two clearly, but when her vision turned to the third, the words blurred as her eyes refocused on a concerned Minerva.

The French girl had been snapping her fingers in front of the other girl's eyes without response for the past five minutes. When the Italian's eyes cleared, she said, "Are you alright? You zoned out for a while there."

Anna-Maria removed her hand from the scar. "I'm fine. I was just remembering a few old things; that's all."

"Are you sure? Maybe we should check your blood sugar again…"

"No, I'm fine, really."

"Well, okay." Minerva turned her towards a full-length mirror. "What do you think?"

Anna-Maria blinked at her reflection. "I think that I look like a brunette Barbie gone wrong!"

"No, you don't; you look fabulous!"

"I look like a Barbie doll." Anna-Maria insisted. "Where are my jeans?" She retreated into the dressing room and closed the door.

"Are you getting the dress?" Minerva asked.

"Yeah, whatever." The Italian replied, handing it over the top of the door. As she changed back into her tee-shirt and jeans, she thought about what she had seen, _Am I going to have…visions like this for the rest of my life? What if Julio sees me in the middle of one? How will I explain to him…? _

Minerva rapped on the door sharply. "Anna-Maria, hurry up!"

"Sorry," She stepped out and took the dress from her, distracted. "I just…never mind."

"Are you okay?" The blonde asked her as she opened her purse to pay for the dresses. "Do you want to go back to the hotel? You don't look too well."

"Yes, alright. Maybe it's time for me to take another injection." She handed Minerva her dress.

"Okay, I'll be right out with Diana; wait for us in the car."

Anna-Maria nodded as she left. "Yes, thanks."

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"You lost your queen, Artemis," Butler observed. "I hope you know what you're doing."

The male genius shifted his bishop. "I have not lost a game of chess yet, old friend. And I do not plan to start now." He moved and captured the bodyguard's king. "I may have lost my queen, but you have lost your king."

"How did you do that?" The bodyguard asked, mildly bewildered. "Did you lose your queen on purpose to give me a false sense of security so that you could capture my king?"

"Exactly so," Artemis smiled his vampire smile. "Would you like to play again?"

"I don't think so," Butler replied. "Artemis, you may have won this game, but how are you doing in the real one?"

"Pardon, Butler?"

"Playing this game with four different lives…do you think any of you will be happy with the outcome?"

"My own happiness is trivial," Artemis replied as he reset the pieces. "Above all, Anna-Maria must lead a happy life, even if I cannot."

"If you can't, how will she? Artemis, you know as well as I do that she will never be truly happy without you, so what is the point of marrying her off?"

"Julio is her best friend, Butler. She loves him, admittedly, not the way he loves her, but she cares about him. Once she is married to him, she may find happiness. I know he will do all he can to keep her happy."  
"May I join you?"

Butler looked towards the brunette Italian, but Artemis kept his gaze on the game-board in front of him. "Of course," The bodyguard replied, rising from his seat. "Artemis needs a new opponent, anyway."

Anna-Maria looked hesitant. "Oh. I…uh, maybe I'll just come back later, then, or…"

The bodyguard led her gently to the chair across from his charge and made her sit down. "Just sit and play."

Artemis gestured towards the pieces in front of her. "You may move first."

Reluctantly, she reached out and moved a pawn forward two spaces, watching from the corner of her eyes as the bodyguard quietly left the room.

Artemis silently moved one of his own pawns forward one space and waited for her next move. It was several minutes before either spoke.

"So…" Anna-Maria moved her bishop to capture one of his knights. "Has Minerva told you the news yet?"

Artemis moved a pawn to capture one of her rooks as he replied, "You mean how our wedding dates have been moved up? Yes, she told me. Does Julio know?"

"I think he jumped up nearly five feet into the air when Minerva told him that the weddings are in three days," She lost a pawn but captured one of his. "Whether he jumped from happiness or something else, I don't know and won't ask."

"It must have been happiness," He responded, shifting his last knight to block his queen. "No sane man would feel anything else at the mention of his wedding if the bride happened to be you."

"I wouldn't know about that," Anna-Maria frowned as he captured another of her pawns. "How did you do that? Never mind, I see how you did it." She moved her bishop in front of her king. "What do your parents think of it?"

"They seem delighted, although Diana and David seem to feel only irritation."

"So, I suppose Minerva will be moving into Fowl Manor after your wedding," She said, losing one of her last pawns to capture one of his bishops.

Artemis nodded, capturing her last rook. "Yes, she will be. And you? Where will you and Julio be living?"

"Maybe Florence," Anna-Maria captured another one of his pieces. "That's where he lives with his parents at the moment. Or we might move to Venice; I have finally inherited my grandmother's mansion, after all. You lost your queen."

Artemis held up hers in his palm. "So did you," He replied. "Have you and Julio begun to think about children?"

"No," She answered, capturing his last pawn. "Julio likes to travel too much for that yet. Personally, I always wanted a large family because I was an only child, but there's still plenty of time. Have you and Minerva…?"

"Not yet," Artemis moved to capture her last knight. "Well, she has. I doubt that I am ready as of yet."

"Will you ever be ready?" She asked, looking up at him for the first time since their game began. He remained silent. Biting her lip, Anna-Maria returned her gaze to the game-board. "Would you have been ready yet if the bride was a different one?"

Artemis kept his gaze on his pieces, moving to capture her bishop. "Perhaps I may have been," He finally replied, studying the position of her king against his. "But the bride is not a different one."

"Artemis," Anna-Maria said softly. "I don't think either one of us is going to win this game."

"No, your king is still in play, as is mine. We seem to have an equal chance of winning." He responded.

"Not the game of chess, Artemis," She replied. "This game, the one we have been playing for months now. How are we ever going to win?"

"We may not win," Artemis replied, his brow furrowed as he tried to figure out her strategy. "But if we continue to play this way, at least we will not lose."


	20. Last Night

_**Hopefully, most if not all of you are at home to know of this update. **_

Anna-Maria sighed and watched the full moon from her window. Minerva studied her quietly for a few moments. "Hey, are you alright, Anna-Maria? You sound tired."

She forced a smile and turned towards the older girl. "No, Minerva, I'm fine. Just think, this time tomorrow we'll be married women…no going back."

"Do you regret that?"

"No, I can't say I do. Do you?"

Minerva shrugged. "There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. But I think this is a good idea. Julio obviously cares a lot about you."

Anna-Maria leaned against the windowpane as she nodded. "Yes, so he does…and there the problem lies…"

"What problem?"

The half-fairy reached up and nervously brushed a few strands of dark brown hair away from her light green eyes with jerking fingers. "Problem?" She repeated, mentally cursing herself for not controlling her tongue. "I – I – I was just thinking about what he's going to do if something happens to me."

Minerva raised an eyebrow and walked over to where she was standing. "What's going to happen to you? Is there something that you're hiding from us – and more importantly, him?"

"No, no, nothing like that," She replied a little too quickly. "But you know I have type one Diabetes mellitus. I'm completely dependent on insulin – without it I'm practically dead – if something happens and I can't get my blood sugar to a normal level, I can…well, I can…I can," She swallowed uncomfortably. "Well, I can die."

Minerva smiled half-heartedly and patted the taller girl's shoulder. "Don't think about it too much, Anna-Maria. Just take your injections on time and everything will be fine, alright?"

"Actually, I switched to a different brand a couple of days ago – on my doctor's recommendation." Seeing Minerva's puzzled look, she added, "I call that doctor who treated me at the hospital here in Delhi at least once daily – she keeps worrying that I'll forget again."

"Well, relax," The blonde smiled. "You'll look beautiful tomorrow, Anna-Maria – well, you're beautiful enough now – but tomorrow you'll be beautiful in a dress."

"Don't remind me," Anna-Maria replied with a roll of her eyes. "I think I'm going to be sick."  
"Do you want a soda or some seltzer?" Minerva asked. "It's perfectly natural to feel nervous and uncomfortable."

"No, thanks, Minerva," She smiled half-heartedly in her direction. "I think I'll just go take a walk, maybe the fresh air will calm me down."

The French girl looked outside, then turned to the clock. "It's almost midnight, Anna-Maria, are you sure you want to go out right now?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Well, alright, then," Minerva's smile grew a little. "I'll go to my room and either sleep or lie in bed thinking. If you need something, just give me a call."

"Thanks." Anna-Maria turned back to the window after the French girl had left and opened the door to the balcony. She closed the door behind her carefully and leaned over the railing. "Hmm, not too big of a drop – I've done bigger without my wings."

Aware that Minerva would be frantic if she knew what the half-fairy genius was about to do, Anna-Maria cautiously lowered herself over the rail and gripped the edge carefully as she found her footing and began her steady descent down the side of the hotel.

Adrenaline surging in her veins, she released her grip and allowed herself to drop to the ground, landing expertly on the soles of her feet. "Perfect landing." She rose from her crouch and looked up at the balcony she had climbed down from. "Maybe I should take the front door on my way back in…or I could just climb back up."

"I think the door would require less stretching."

Anna-Maria jumped nearly out of her skin in surprise. She turned, panting, "Artemis, you scared me half to death like that! Have you obtained Julio's habit of turning up arbitrarily when one least expects it?"

The raven-hared genius thought for a moment. "I may have. It cannot be all that bad of a habit."

"Well," She uncomfortably brushed her hair away from her eyes and shrugged. "I suppose it's neither good or bad – neutral, you can say. It's harmless most of the time, but it doesn't do any good to anyone. Although it would have probably given my mother a heart attack. Luckily for her, he didn't do that when she knew him."

"So, why are you out here in the middle of the night?" He asked, his blue eyes shining in the dark.

"Well, I thought I would just take a walk, get a little fresh air…why are you out here?"

The Irishman frowned as he looked up at the hotel. "You could say I was doing the same...you do know that that is at least a fifteen-foot drop? I do believe the elevators work well enough for use."

She walked past him slowly. "So I wanted to take the more…adventurous route down. Why does it bother you so much?"

He followed her as she walked onto a bridge overlooking a small lake. "Adventurous?" He repeated, one fine eyebrow raised. "You could have killed yourself if you happened to misplace your foot or reached for a brick that was farther away than you imagined!"

She whirled around to face him. "But I didn't, Artemis!" She inhaled deeply to restore her composure. "Look, I know what I'm doing. I have been LEP commander for six years and I know how to tell right from wrong. You have to learn to trust me, Artemis! I can take care of myself."

"How can I trust you, Anna-Maria?!" He asked, his eyes flashing in anger. "I thought I could trust you when we found that cave where your ancestor Catalina used to reside. Instead you let me believe you were dead for six months and you used that to get me to propose to Minerva!"

He paused to take a deep breath. "How could you do that to me? Do you have any idea what those six months felt like for me? My parents kept asking me what was wrong and I didn't tell them anything because I did not want them to feel bad – I just kept making excuses and then when I wouldn't do anything in my study but stare at the walls Diana would ask me if I had a headache and David would ask why I kept sitting in the dark when there was nothing wrong with the lights. Can you even imagine what that was like?"

Anna-Maria looked at him with a sad expression. "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, Artemis, but what did you want me to do? Did you want me to just let you die, consumed by a magical fireball conjured up centuries ago by some prejudiced pixie?"

"You didn't have to take it for me!" He snapped back. "We could have both made it out in time unscathed if you hadn't insisted on letting that fireball get to you…and then we wouldn't be in this tangled-up mess with you marrying Julio and me marrying Minerva. Seeing you there at the church tomorrow and watching you marry someone else is going to _hurt_, Anna-Maria. It's going to hurt more than you'll ever know."

She looked up at him. "And how do you think I will feel? Huh? Do you think I'm going to jump for joy when you wed Minerva? If that's what you think, well, then, I'm sorry I saved your life, Artemis, but that happened to be my job at that time. And it's not like I had any choice in the matter to leave for so long like that – I can't teleport myself through time and it's not my fault that I had no control over what happened to me!"

She turned away from him and touched her collarbone gingerly, feeling the spot where the flames had scarred her. "Maybe it's best that we're getting married to other people," She said quietly. "This is too much, Artemis. Please don't treat me like this, I can't handle it anymore." Anna-Maria turned to face him again, her eyes bright from unshed tears. "There are just some things I can't handle; I'm sorry."

Artemis watched the reflection of the full moon in the lake and sighed. "No, Anna-Maria, I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget that everyone else has feelings as well – I was just venting my anger and I didn't mean to go into a tirade about it. It took a lot of emotional and spiritual strength to get this far…" He looked up at her. "Listen, Anna-Maria…you shouldn't marry Julio because I'm telling you to – you should marry him because he cares about you. You know we wouldn't have taken the game this far if he didn't."

Anna-Maria bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment. "I know," She said after a few moments as she opened her eyes. "And…and it means a lot that you care enough about me to go through with this for the sake of my own happiness. I hope you'll be just as happy with Minerva as your parents are with each other."

His deep blue eyes connected with her emerald-green ones and it began to rain. Anna-Maria looked up at the sky as rain pelted her face and drenched her hair. "It's nearly monsoon season here…it is going to continue raining heavily and steadily for quite a while."

Artemis looked around for shelter as the rain soaked them through to the skin. "There," He pointed. "It looks like a summerhouse."

Anna-Maria turned and looked. "Why does a hotel need a summerhouse?" She peeled off her jacket and held it above her head. "Do you think it's safe?"

"Do we have any other choice?" He asked above the sound of the rain as it hit the lake and the dusty ground. "The hotel is farther away and it's surrounded by trees – everyone knows not to roam around under trees during a storm like this." He looked up at the sky as it was split by a blinding lightning bolt. "We should go there now. I don't think this bridge will hold for long with all this rain."

"Oh, I wish I brought an umbrella." Anna-Maria grumbled as they ran side by side to the summerhouse.

"How would you have carried it?" Artemis called back. "You would have to put it between your teeth unless you wanted to climb with one arm!"

"Oh, stop it already!" She exclaimed as they reached the door. "It's not locked, is it?" She held her jacket over both of their heads as he tried the rusty doorknob.

"No, it's open. Come on."

Thoroughly drenched, the two genii entered the small structure slowly. Judging by the cobwebs and the dry leaves that littered the floor, it had not been inhabited by anything human in some time.

Artemis took out his handkerchief, wet as it was, and cleaned the dust and grime away from a filthy window. His attention was drawn to a corner of the room and he watched quietly as Anna-Maria wrung out her hair.

Unaware of his gaze on her, she brushed her dark, wet, shoulder-length hair to one side and began to wring it out with both hands, the water forming a dark puddle on the moth-eaten carpet. Satisfied, she straightened and hung her jacket on an old peg to dry. She turned and noticed him then. "What?" She felt nervous and uncomfortable when he looked at her like that. "I can't look _that_ terrible."

He looked away and turned back to the window almost immediately. The rain continued to shower their surroundings as steadily as it had when it started. "Well," He began softly. "When it rains, it pours."

Anna-Maria heard him and turned to look in his direction for a moment. When he shifted his gaze from the window, she turned her back to him again. She roamed around the room slowly, examining a tapestry on the back wall for lack of something better to do. Artemis moved so quietly that she didn't realize he had taken a step at all until she felt the warmth of his hand close to hers.

She pretended not to notice as she looked at the faded tapestry. There really wasn't much that had not been worn away by time, rainwater, and moths. A sudden and loud clap of thunder startled her and she automatically gripped Artemis's arm out of fright.

She opened her eyes after a few moments and remembered where she was. Looking apologetic and shamefaced, she quickly withdrew from him. "S – sorry," She said quietly.

"I did not know you were afraid of thunder." Artemis replied quietly, his gaze intent on her. He still felt the pressure of her grip as she held his arm and the warmth of her head against his shoulder.

"I'm not afraid," Anna-Maria replied quickly. "I just…I get a little jumpy. You know I've lived most of my life underground – I never quite got used to hearing it because we don't have thunderstorms in Haven." Her watch beeped unexpectedly. "Oh, no, not now."

"What?" His forehead creased immediately in concern. "Is there something wrong?"

"Uh…no. No, everything's fine."

"What was that alarm for?" He checked his own watch. "It is nearly two A.M. I know you do not arise that early."

"Uh…" Her shoulders drooped. "I need to…I need insulin."

"Now?"

"Yes, now!"

"Do you need to get to your hotel room?"

"Yes," She dug her meter out of her jacket pocket, grateful that she had remembered its waterproof case. "But maybe I can wait a little while. The rain might let up in an hour or so." She pricked herself and frowned at the screen. "No," She groaned, "My blood sugar is lowering already!" She grabbed her jacket (A/N: still wet) and wrapped it around her shoulders. "I have to go."

"Let me come with you," He took her arm.

She shook him off. "You don't have to. Let me do this on my own. I told you, I can take care of myself."

Anna-Maria opened the door and was gone before Artemis could protest. "Ugh," He groaned as he ran after her. "Why does she have to be so helplessly obstinate?"

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"Anna-Maria, please, wait!" Artemis called to her.

She pretended she hadn't heard as she neared the edge of the bridge. She brushed her wet bangs away out of her eyes. The old structure really did seem rickety and unsafe, but she didn't really care. A thunderclap made her jump, and Artemis was at her side in seconds. "Anna-Maria, stop!"

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she was staring directly into clear blue irises. "Artemis, let me go! I need my insulin injection now!" She ran past him and onto the bridge, her surroundings a blur as the rain rushed at her. The sodden planks near the end gave way, and with a small cry, she found her ankle partially submerged in the broken wood.

Artemis appeared beside her like a flash of lightning as she managed to free herself. "Can you walk?" His voice rose above the thunder.

"I'll be fine," She replied a tad huffily. "It must have healed automatically. I just – ouch!" She cried out despite her best efforts not to.

"Let me see it," He shifted her so that she was facing him and rolled up her pant leg.

"No, stop, it's okay, I can take care of it…ow!"

"Will you just let me help?" He tugged off her boot and examined her ankle. The raven-haired genius then retrieved a penlight from his inner pocket and flashed it as he studied the swelling area. "Here's the problem – there is a small piece of wood lodged in under your skin – you know that your magic cannot heal a wound if there is something solid in there that should not be."

"Okay…so now what?"

"I'll take you up into the hotel," He replied. "You can take your injection while I extract that wood."

"No, no, no," She said quickly. "Thanks, but I'll pass. I can do it on my own."

"How are you going to get to the hotel on that foot? Come on, we have to get this done now or you will find yourself in a predicament tomorrow."

"I'm in a predicament now!"

"Have you ever heard of a bride limping to the altar?"

"That's not funny!"

"I wasn't joking," He replied. "Just let me help." Despite her protests, he slipped his arm under her knees and supported her back and shoulders with the other as he lifted her up. She was lighter than he had expected. "You worry far too much, Anna-Maria," He said, seeing her anxious expression. "I am not about to drop you, so just relax and stay calm."

She hesitantly took hold of his shoulders as he carried her away from the bridge. "It's not you dropping me I'm worried about." Anna-Maria admitted eventually. "What will Minerva and Julio say if they find out about this?"

"As I said, you worry far too much," Artemis told her as the automatic doors swung open. "We're almost there, so just relax like I told you to."

"But someone will see us," She protested. "What if your mother sees, or your father, or Diana and David…what if they think something happened?"

"They won't," He smiled, trying to reassure her. "Because nothing happened. All I am doing is helping a friend who is injured."

The middle-aged man at the check-in desk looked up, not surprised at all to see two of his guests dripping and one carrying the other. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Can you send a bellboy up to room 1705 with a room key?" Artemis asked. He could feel Anna-Maria's panicked heartbeat against his chest. "Relax," He whispered. She took deep breaths and her pulse slowly returned to normal.

The man nodded and signaled to a sleepy-looking young boy. "Take the young lady her key, Rohan." Rohan nodded and immediately dashed off to get the key. The man turned back to them. "You may go on up; he will meet you there shortly with the key."

Artemis returned his nod and carried Anna-Maria to the elevators. After they left, the man behind the desk turned back to his computer game and promptly forgot they had even come in. In the dim light, the pupils of his eyes seemed a little jagged.

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Rohan the bellboy opened the door of Anna-Maria's form for them and the raven-haired genius smiled at him as he carried her inside. "Thank you, Rohan. Tell the manager to put the tip on my tab. If he does not or tries to swindle it away from you, notify me immediately."

"Yes, Sir." The boy nodded, said thank you, and left.

Artemis gently set Anna-Maria down on her bed. "Do you have a first-aid kit?"

She had given up trying to get him to leave her alone. Biting her lower lip against the sharp pain in her ankle, she indicated the drawer of the table next to the bed.

He opened the drawer, lifted the kit out, and flipped it open. The young Irishman handed her one of the disposable needles from the kit after checking its label silently, watching out of the corner of his vision as she rolled up the sleeve of her shirt and injected the insulin into her right upper arm.

"Ow…ow…ow…OUCH!" Anna-Maria winced as he cleaned her swelling ankle with an alcohol swab.

He looked at her as he tossed the swab into the trash. "It's better than having to get your foot amputated, is it not?" She remained silent and watched as he picked up a pair of tweezers and studied the puncture in her skin again. "Your karma must not be as bad as you think; the piece of wood has barely penetrated the dermis…removing it will not be difficult." Artemis secured it with the tweezers and pulled it out smoothly. Anna-Maria cried out again. He looked at her as he threw the bloody wood away and wiped the skin with a damp handkerchief. "I said it would not be difficult; I did not say it would not be painful."

Blue sparks scurried over the puncture in her skin. The cells and lost blood were duplicated and in a few short seconds, no doctor would have been able to tell whether the wound had been real or not.

Anna-Maria stood and tested her weight to make sure everything was in place. "Thanks, Artemis. I owe you."

He waved it aside. "No, you owe me nothing. Just be more careful next time; I probably won't be around to help."

She looked down at the floor and was silent for a few moments. "Well, thank you for helping me."

It was what felt like hours before he finally replied, "You're welcome."

Anna-Maria lifted her gaze and raised an eyebrow. "You can't go to your room like that. You're all wet; someone is bound to notice." She looked at her watch. "And it's 2:45; you should go before Butler starts up one of his tracking devices."

"Well, unless you happen to have a man-sized hair-dryer, I will just have to use a few dozen towels."

"I know something that will take up less time." She began to vibrate rapidly, thirty seconds later she was drip-dry. "This is much faster – and it doesn't need so many towels."

"That's an interesting way to use the shield."

"It scared my mother out of her wits whenever I did it. I can do it for you." She reached out and gripped his shoulder; the vibrations in her hand began to shake him and soon he was just as dry as she was. She removed her hand. "Better?"

"Yes, thank you."

An awkward silence settled over the room. After a few minutes, Anna-Maria said, "Well, it's getting late. You should go now, Artemis. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Unless Minerva suddenly changes her mind, yes, you will."

She smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks again, Artemis."

"Good night, Venus."

_**In case I didn't mention it earlier for those of you who never read **__Happy Valentine's Day Artemis!_, _**Anna-Maria's middle name is Venus. Her grandfather was a professor of mythology, and he wanted to name her for the Roman goddess of love. Since Italian tradition is to pass on the names of ancestors in the family, her mother named Anna-Maria after her own mother (Anna-Maria's grandmother) so Venus became her middle name.**_


	21. Wedding Day

Anna-Maria couldn't get any sleep that night. As the moon began to fade, she tossed and turned about in her bed unsuccessfully. Five minutes before dawn, her eyes finally closed. _You can still break the curse!_ Anna-Maria's eyes flew open. _You still have a chance._ "Not now, not now, NOT NOW!" Anna-Maria clapped her hands over her ears and bent into a fetal position, knowing that Catalina's voice was inside her mind and she had no choice but to hear it.

_Don't give up like I did._ Her frustration increased rapidly and her green irises flamed dangerously. "Leave me ALONE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "I'm sick of hearing you when no one else can and I'm tired of hearing you giving me advice that will never work!"

Minerva appeared in the doorway that connected their rooms, a worried expression on her face. "Anna-Maria? Are you alright? And...who are you yelling at?"

"Everyone!" Anna-Maria tossed her pillow aside and drew herself up. "I can't do this. I am _not_ marrying anyone, I am_ not_ wearing a dress today, and there is _absolutely_ no way I am staying here." She pulled her unpacked suitcase out from under the bed and threw her jacket on over her sleepwear. "I'm going home."

"Anna-Maria, are you _nuts_?" Minerva reached for the suitcase, but Anna-Maria snatched it away. "Today is our wedding day. You said yes to Julio, how do you think this is going to make him feel?"

"Minerva, I have spent my entire life thinking about how everyone else feels!" She paused, her eyes burning. "This time, at least, I'm going to think about myself. For just once in my life, I want to be my own person. Not who everyone else tells me to be." She picked up her suitcase and headed for the door. "I know you believe in all that stuff about bad luck, so I'll see Julio and explain everything to him and his parents." Her hand faltered at the doorknob, but only for a moment as she turned back to look at Minerva. "Tell Artemis I'm sorry about this, but I never belonged here."

And with that, she left.

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Julio gaped at her. "You're calling off the wedding _on the day of the wedding_? Anna-Maria, you are the craziest girl I have ever met."

"Yeah, I've gone nuts," She leaned back and rested her elbows on the suitcase. "You can just give that to your parents as an explanation. Anna-Maria Venus Root has gone completely mad and is being sent to an asylum for her mental health issues. That should work."

He stood and met her green eyes with his brown ones. "You know I didn't mean it like that. Anyway, if that's what you want, fine. _Mamma_ will be disappointed and so will Marisa, but it's nothing _babbo_ and I can't handle."

"Thanks, Julio," she replied, her expression incomprehensible. She reached into her pocket and drew out his engangement ring. She held it out to him. "You'll need this back." She almost laughed. She had been returning a lot of engagement rings lately. "In a few years, you'll meet a lucky girl." She placed it in his palm. "But it won't be me."

He glanced down at the white-gold band in his palm and sighed. He looked up and reached for her hand. He gently slipped the ring back onto her finger. "No, you keep it. I meant it for you; it's only yours." He let go of her. "When you really do get married, invite me, won't you?"

She looked down at the ring and sighed. She drew close to him and threw her arms about his shoulders. As she rested her head on his shoulder, she replied gloomily, "Julio, you know me. I'm too rebellious to be bound by marriage vows. In five or ten years maybe, if at all." She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to do this to you."

Julio encircled his arms around her shoulders as he returned her hug. "Don't worry about it, _Crisalide_." He rested his head next to hers. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Everything happens for a reason. Our job is not to question it and go wherever life takes us."

She opened her eyes and smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks. I knew you would understand. So you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive." He smiled a little and lifted his head so she could see his face. "And, wherever you are, I'll always be here," he tapped her sliver pendant, the one he had given her all those years ago. "In your heart."

She hugged him tightly before letting go. "You're right, Julio. You're always right. So I'll be hearing from you?"

His smile grew. "Everyday," he promised.

"And I'll see you around?" She asked.

"Definitely. But when I say so." He grinned at her. "You'll get a few surprises from me."

She smiled and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Anna-Maria?"

She turned back to look at him. "Yes?"

"Don't forget your injections. Next time I may not be around to remind you."


	22. Severing Ties

Anna-Maria stopped before she made her way to the counter. Knives were not allowed on the planes. Suddenly, she was overcome by an urge she had not felt for years. Why not give in to it? It wasn't like her life could get any more screwed up than it already was. "Excuse me," she said to the clerk in Hindi, smiling. "Are there any private bathrooms in this airport?"

The clerk handed her a key from behind the counter. "Walk straight away from the terminals and turn left."

This was too easy! Anna-Maria took the key. "Thank you so much for your help. You've really brightened my day."

The clerk looked surprised at that. "Um…you're welcome. I feel a little better myself."

Anna-Maria said goodbye and followed the directions he had given her. Straight away from the terminals and turn left… She stopped in front of a set of doors. One said 'ladies' and the other said 'men'. What, no private bathrooms for fairy-human hybrids? Anna-Maria slipped into the first one and locked the door behind her.

This was going to be risky, especially with her diabetes, but what did she care? No one would ever know. She drew the knife out of her pocket and felt the sharpened blade. The tip pricked her fingers, drawing beads of red blood to the surface of her skin. Anna-Maria pulled up the sleeve of her shirt and examined the skin of her forearm. Flawless. She rested the blade against her skin, applying just enough pressure to cut through the first layer. Slowly, her magic surged, trying to close the wound. Finally, she felt her magic run out.

No _mesmer_, no shield, and best of all, no healing. Perfect. She scratched the blade lightly against her skin first, scraping the cells raw. She relished the cold feel of the metal and pushed the blade deeper, loving how it bit into her flesh. Blood spurted around the blade. No big deal; she'd seen worse.

Her mother had never known about the half-fairy's need to cut herself. When she had been taken into the custody of the LEP, she had had to hide it. When she had been told who her father was for the first time, she had secretly considered pressing a blade to her wrists. When she became commander of the LEP, she had forced herself to stop. But the urge to cut had never really left her. Over the past few weeks, her urges had increased.

Anna-Maria wished she could do the same thing with Artemis, Minerva, and the rest of the world. How nice would it be to be cut off from the rest of the world and all its problems, just like that? She winced lightly when the blade hit a vein. It had to go deeper. She pushed the knife into her arms, through muscle and bone. Still not deep enough. The blood that was pooling around her now, dripping on the floor and staining the white tiles, was a deep, rich scarlet. Still not deep enough.

_Anna-Maria, what are you doing? _Catalina's voice rang in her head. _Stop it, stop it this instant! Don't you dare move that blade another inch!_

"Make me stop, you stupid ghost! Why should I care if you fell in love with a human when you weren't supposed to? Why did you have to drag me into your problems? I have enough of my own." The blade bit deeper. "I told you to leave me alone, and you wouldn't stop. Can't you at least let me die in peace?"

A hand reached out and grabbed her bloody wrist. The knife clattered to the floor, and Anna-Maria's world went pitch-black.


	23. Awake

_Wake up. You have to wake up. Your friends are waiting for you. Don't make them wait any longer than they have to. _"Anna-Maria? Can you hear me? Anna-Maria!" Weakly, she opened her eyes. Gradually, the room focused and she saw Foaly standing over her. She tried to speak, but found that she couldn't. She tried to reach out to him, but she couldn't move her arms either. "Here." The centaur reached out and pulled an oxygen mask off of her face. "Well, great job, Fairy Girl. You almost killed yourself, in case you didn't know. You also nearly chopped off your own hand."

"Mm." Her mouth and throat were dry, and her pulse was faint, but present. She looked away from him. She didn't want to talk about this. No one was supposed to have been affected but her. No one was supposed to know.

"You've been out for a week, by the way. Since your blood is mixed, we couldn't give you a transfusion and you were kept alive on life support while we waited all this time for your body to naturally replace your blood. Your heart actually stopped, did you know that? Twice."

"Too bad it didn't stay that way."

"I'll let that slide since your heart will probably pop if I try to say anything else. And you know what else? You've permanently lost your magic. No more healing, shield, or _mesmer_. And no matter how many times you complete the Ritual, your magic will _not come back_. Congratulations, now all you've got to show your fairy side is your ears and a couple of DNA scans." The centaur turned to leave, but he looked back at her over his shoulder. "You did good, Anna-Maria. Julius would have been proud."

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Anna-Maria was sitting up when Holly entered the room. The half-fairy didn't look away from the window. Elves were emotional creatures. Anna-Maria should know, considering that at least fifty percent of her DNA contained elfin genes.

Holly's face was as red as her hair when Anna-Maria finally looked her way. "Hey, Fairy Girl." Her voice trembled, and the elf fought to keep her composure. "It's nice to hear that your heart still works. Though I guess that doesn't work out so well since it happens to be a black hole."

Anna-Maria sighed and turned back to the window. Why was there a window anyway? This part of Haven was nothing to be admired, not since the only thing to look at was a sign for Spud's Spud Emporium. "I don't want to talk about this right now, Holly. It would have been better for everyone if I had just died."

Before Anna-Maria could blink, Holly was standing right in front of her. The elf's slap resounded in the small room, and Anna-Maria felt the hard sting on her cheek match the one in her heart. Holly had never struck her before. Never. When Anna-Maria looked up, Holly's eyes were red-rimmed and brimming over with tears. "Don't ever talk like that again, do you hear me? Would we all have struggled so much to keep you alive if it would have been better to let you die? Do you think we're all really that cold-hearted?"

"No, Holly, I don't. But you were asking too much. Catalina was asking too much. This curse is not my problem. I'm not the one who brought it about, and I shouldn't have to suffer for it. I'm not going to live my life the way someone else wants me to. And if I don't want to live, then that's my business, not anyone else's."

"And you thought suicide was the solution?" Holly's voice was sharp and shrill, and Anna-Maria felt it pierce through the muddled fog around her mind.

"I never meant for the blade to go that deep. But once I started, I couldn't stop. And you know what? I didn't want to stop." She looked away. "I'm sorry, but you suffered unnecessarily. There is no use in saving someone who doesn't want to be saved."

"Okay, fine!" Holly's fury was plainly visible in her face and her eyes were scorching. "Fine, we all suffered unnecessarily. But do you think Artemis thinks that way? Did you ever once think of him, Anna-Maria? Your heart stopped twice. Each time, he promised himself that he wouldn't live if your heart didn't keep on going."

"Artemis?" Anna-Maria closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. In…out…in…out. "What do you mean? Artemis should be on his honeymoon with Minerva by now."

"But he's not, Anna-Maria. He didn't marry Minerva. He stayed here the whole time. He's the one who found you and brought you here. He refused to let you die. Even when you wanted to let go, he didn't let you. Artemis kept your heart beating when your body told it to stop."


	24. Double Lecture

The twins came in first. Diana was solemn, but she had always been that. David, on the other hand, was serious and grim, unusual for him. Anna-Maria was stuck. Diana stood on her left, and David on her right. And, of course, she happened to be too weak to move from where she was. D'arvit!

"This was far from what I had expected of you, Anna-Maria," Diana said first. Great, being lectured by a twelve year old. That was the best thing for her right now. "From Minerva, maybe, but you? You were always quick to prove that you were strong, Anna-Maria. You never let your diabetes or anything like it catch up with you. And now you're trying suicide? What good is being a genius if you're not smart enough to figure out that some things aren't worth it?"

"Lighten up on her, Di," David cut in smoothly. "I think the centaur and the elf have already given her enough guilt to last a lifetime."

"Her lifetime is longer now than she wanted it to be in the first place, apparently," Diana grumbled.

He ignored her. "Look, Anna-Maria, can you admit that what you did was wrong? That it wouldn't have done any good? If you can do that, I'll spare you another lecture."

She looked away from him. His inquiring eyes were too much like his older brother's for her to bear. "No. I can't admit that. Did anyone tell you about the curse?" The twins nodded simultaneously. "How can I be expected to just take up an ancient problem like that and fix it? I can't do that. I can't. And marrying Julio wouldn't have broken the curse, either. But it would have kept Artemis safe. From the curse and, more importantly, from me." Her voice broke. "And still, I couldn't even do that much." She looked up at them. "I'm _not_ strong, Diana, and I never was. It was all an act, just something I put on and took off like a mask. I inherited Julius Root's looks, his features, but not his courage. On the inside, I'm as weak as my mother was."

David turned away from her. "But you can't be weak, Anna-Maria," Diana told her. "I've seen your strength and heard of it. It takes courage to face..." Her voice trailed off and she looked at her twin brother. "What was it the elf said, a troll? Never mind." She turned back to Anna-Maria. "Unless Artemis was exaggerating, which I'm sure he wasn't, then one requires strength to look one of those things in the eye."

"A troll?" Anna-Maria would have laughed, but it hurt too much to try. "One doesn't see a troll every day, Diana, but I know how to deal with them. I can handle one if I get angry enough, and you know my temper. That's not strength, it's just too much pent-up anger and frustration. Nothing more than that."

Diana bit her lip. Persuasion was clearly not working. She turned to her brother. "Davy?" she prompted_. Your turn_, she told him telepathically.

He turned back to face them and shrugged in Diana's direction. _Fine_, he answered mentally. _And just for the record, Anna-Maria always did like me best. This only proves it. _

Diana snorted. _Yeah, right. Clearly, I'm her favorite._

_Um, hello? You were about to kill her with one of your lectures not five minutes ago!_ "Anna-Maria." He sat down beside her form on the bed. "Okay, listen carefully to what I have to say and promise me you won't disagree with whatever it is I say until after I'm done. And even then, I don't want to hear anything negative out of you, but if there's something you have to say, then say it."

She couldn't help herself, she raised an eyebrow in his direction doubtfully. "Okay," she said finally. "I promise."

"Alright. Technically, you have no magic, though I believe there is just the tiniest bit left for your lingual abilities, if I'm not mistaken. Wait, don't interrupt me. The centaur, Foaly? Was that his name? Anyway, he said that you lost your magic because your body had some saved in your system, an emergency sort of thing that regular fairies don't have, apparently, and it took all of that saved-up magic to... okay, let me start again. Your body shut down, temporarily, to rewire your system and your brain with that magic, to keep you alive. It was a huge thing to do, so it used up all you had."

"And what does this do to me?"

"You can't cut yourself again, ever. Not even by accident while chopping up vegetables or whatever. Your body and your mind won't allow you to bring anything sharp within six inches of your bare skin. And, even if by some glitch you do manage to do so, your skin has changed to accomodate that possibilty. It's gotten harder, so it won't be so easy to get so much as a scratch. Also, your brain has been rewired to reject all depressing thoughts. It took a while to kick in, which was partially why the elf slapped you earlier, to get it going...although mostly she was just really pissed. Now, however, it appears to be working. You can get sad, or angry, of course, just not to the point of desperation."

"I'm still waiting for what this means." For Frond's sake, she was a genius and had the I.Q. to prove it, but she wanted something straight out!

"It means you won't be wasting time in therapy."

"Oh, yay," she said sarcastically. "I hope that means I don't qualify as a mental case."

"No, Anna-Maria. But you'll have to stay in here for at least another month while you recover. Now smile, you look worse than a zombie. It's a real turn-off, let me tell you."

She laughed, surprised. "Thanks, David."

"For telling you that you look like a zombie?"

"For telling me I can't be depressed anymore. Thanks."

"You're welcome." He gave Diana an "I told you so" look.

**_Sorry, I've been really busy and I've still got midterm exams! I'll get to the part with Artemis soon!_**


	25. Epilogue

**_Okay, this should be the end now._**

Anna-Maria had been sitting up, talking and listening to Trouble and Grub Kelp when the door was opened by Artemis.

Trouble smiled in his direction wanly. "Uh, come on, Grub, let's go. The commander...er, Anna-Maria needs to rest."

"But I haven't finished telling her about the time I faced a group of goblins on my own," Grub whined.

"She already knows the story, Grub," Trouble replied impatiently. "And you weren't on your own, Holly was with you. Now, come on." He grabbed his brother's pointed ear and dragged him out of the room.

"Ow, ow, ow, I'm telling Mommy!"

Artemis closed the door behind the two elves.

Anna-Maria tried to smile, but he wouldn't look at her. Well, that was what she deserved. "Artemis..." She moved to stand, lowering her legs to the floor. But a week in bed had left her legs jelly-like. She began to tip forward in spite of herself. Before she could cry out, Artemis had one arm underneath her, supporting her knees, and another at her back as he held her up. "Uh...hi. And thanks."

Artemis didn't say anything as he set her back down on her bed. He withdrew as if touching her burned him. That wasn't a good sign. He turned away from her and looked out the window instead. So a sign for Spud's Spud Emporium was more appealing for him to look at than she was.

"Artemis." Her voice came out in a whisper. "I -"

"'Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone'," he quoted, cutting her off. He didn't even so much as turn his head in her direction. "But you, Anna-Maria, you left me alone. You. Left Me." She could see that his hands were clenched into fists so tight that his knuckles were whiter than bone.

"Artemis, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I -"

"I do not desire your apologies," he replied, interrupting her again. "Nor do I wish to hear them. All I wish to know is why. Why did you leave me alone? How could you have believed that leaving me was a better solution than any other?"

"'Him that I love, I wish to be free - even from me'," Anna-Maria quoted this time. "You're too good for me, Artemis. You deserve better. You deserve Minerva, and she deserves you."

"I think that was for me to decide, Anna-Maria." His voice was rough and spoke her name like it was a curse. Gone was the gentle tone he had once used whenever he had spoken to her, the lilt that his voice gave to her name. "You left me twice. Why should I believe that you will not do so again? Why should I trust you again? Why should I let my heart be deceived?"

"You shouldn't," she admitted. "I'm sorry. I thought you would be better off with Minerva. Speaking of which..." her voice trailed off and she found that she couldn't finish.

"Minerva and Julio had their own plan," he replied. "They knew what we were doing, somehow. Minerva was never going to marry me. Julio's ring, the one he gave you, was one that he had always had for you, to show you that he would always be your best friend. But not more than that."

"Well, that figures. I always thought that Julio would go into acting like his dad and I knew I saw an actor who looked too much like him in a couple of recent Italian movies. Which means...Julio made me feel bad for him and guilty when he knew everything the whole time. Oh, next time I see him I'm going to..." Artemis turned to look at her. His expression was neither amused, nor disgusted. It was unreadable. "...Never mind. You were saying?"

"I left the chapel as soon as I heard that you were gone. I arrived in time to see your plane leaving, but Holly had a tracker on you, and she told me you were still in the airport. There was a sense of desperation in your eyes when you closed and locked the bathroom door. It took me longer than it should have to open the door, and I was only in time to catch you when you began to lose consciousness."

"I'm sorry you had to see that. That you had to see me that way. I'll do anything to make it up to you, Artemis, anything. Please, if there's anything I can do, please tell me."

"Only one thing will convince me of your faith, of your love."

"What is it?"

He turned his gaze on her, his chilling blue eyes burned her. "Marry me."

After all that, he still wanted her? Why? "Artemis, I can't! Anything but that, please!" Whoever had once said that love was crazy and unreasonable had not been joking around. "Artemis, if you marry me, it'll kill you. I can't do that, I can't do it. Please, anything else, just not that."

"There is nothing else that will convince me that you care for me, Anna-Maria."

"But the curse, Artemis, the curse..."

"The curse is no longer a problem."

Anna-Maria froze. A breeze played with her bangs. Wait...they were underground, there wasn't supposed to be a breeze. When she and Artemis had combined tears, there had been a minor earthquake, the power of the Earth. When they had combined blood, there was a rain storm, the power of water. What was the last power that Catalina had used to counteract the curse? The power of wind. "I...I didn't say that."

"Do you think I did?" Artemis shot back, the breeze tugging at his suit jacket. "The pitch is too high for me, and the voice pattern does not match yours."

Artemis turned, and Anna-Maria lifted her gaze from the bedsheets.

The elf brushed a lock of long, red hair behind one pointed ear. "I can assure you, the curse is no longer a problem."

"Catalina Root? What do you mean, no longer a problem?" Anna-Maria asked.

"The curse has been broken," Catalina replied.

"Yeah, I got that part, thanks a lot. I meant how was it broken?"

A dark-haired man appeared, as if he had walked out of the wall. Artemis instinctively moved to wrap his arms around Anna-Maria, forgetting his anger. Robert Fowl smiled at them. "Your love broke it." Catalina reached for his hand, and his fingers intertwined with hers. "We have yet to thank you for that."

"I don't get it," Anna-Maria said, her voice muffled because her head was pressed against Artemis's shoulder. It was selfish, but she didn't want to let go of him, or him to let go of her. "All of a sudden, just like that?"

"Remember," Catalina said. "The strength of the heart was the key."

"Why couldn't you have just said that in plain Gnommish?" Anna-Maria asked. "You had to leave a riddle, didn't you?"

Catalina smiled faintly. "I apologize. But that didn't stop you, did it?" She turned to face the raven-haired genius beside her descendant. "Artemis Fowl, your courage and your love are both very admirable. Despite all of Anna-Maria's shortcomings, and believe me there are many..."

"Hey! You're no angel yourself!" Anna-Maria replied, her face reddening. She was getting into Beetroot Junior mode.

Catalina laughed. "My point is, the two of you love each other more than anyone would have ever thought possible."

"So...Artemis isn't going to die if I marry him?"

"No," Robert Fowl told her. "I can see that the two of you will live to see your grandchildren's grandchildren."

"Am I going to be more wrinkled than a prune?"

Catalina blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Anna-Maria has a very unique sense of humor," Artemis told her. "I have always found that life is more interesting around her."

"Ah, I see...I think. Ahem." Catalina's hand hovered over Anna-Maria's collarbone. The dark, crescent-shaped scar glowed and began to fade.

"Wait." Anna-Maria grabbed the elf's hand. "Don't. Leave it. I want a reminder of all this, so that I don't make the same mistakes again."

"Are you sure?" Catalina asked. "If I take away the scar, your powers will be returned to you. I cannot do anything about your lost fairy magic, but I can return the powers you had when you were born, the ones that were taken away to lift you from this time."

"No. I want to fix my mistakes on my own merit, not with any magic or any powers. My life is better without them. I won't be missing anything."

Catalina took her hand away. "Very well, if you insist. I must say, you are the most stubborn of my descendants so far, and certainly the most...peculiar."

"Thank you?"

"Good luck with the rest of your lives. Take care of yourself, Anna-Maria. Don't give your new husband any more trouble."

"New husband?" Anna-Maria repeated, but Catalina Root and Robert Fowl had already vanished. She turned to Artemis. "What did she mean by that? Why didn't she say fiance? Why did she say husband? Artemis, what was she talking about?"

"I told Holly, Foaly, and Trouble they were not to tell you. I wanted to tell you myself."

"Tell me what?"

"The curse was broken. We are already married."

"We what?"

Artemis lifted her hand. "I take it you never really looked at your ring finger?" A silver-and-gold wedding band glinted from around her third finger. "Apparently, you speak in your slumber. While you were unconscious, you kept saying 'Artemis, Artemis, I love you. Don't leave me, I'll marry you'. You said your wedding vows of your own accord."

"I did? Aw, man! I was asleep throughout my own wedding! That'll make for some nice memories."

Artemis chuckled.

"And you tormented me for no reason. What was with the 'only one thing will convince me of your love' and 'you left me alone'? That was a horrible thing to do! Although...not any less horrible than what I did."

Artemis kissed the bandhages on her wrist. "Julio is not the only man around here who can act."

"No. Apparently I'm the only person who can't tell the difference between acting and real life, though."

"I assure you, my love is not an act."

"Neither is mine...unfortunately, my perpetual stupidity is not an act, either."

"You are not and never were stupid, Anna-Maria."

"I said I'm _perpetually_ stupid. Why else would I have pushed a boy into a canal in Venice when I was twelve?"

"You pushed a boy into a canal?"

"He was flirting with me. I stayed to make sure he didn't drown...but then I pushed him back in when he climbed out the first time. He was okay, though. It wasn't like a ferry hit him or anything, he just got drenched."

"Hmm. Well, that's beside the point."

"What _is_ the point?"

He picked her up in his arms, quite literally sweeping her off her feet. "The point is, we are married now, the curse has been broken, and I am waiting until I can take you to Fowl Manor."

"Can you take me now?"

His blue eyes twinkled. "I doubt that Holly and Foaly would agree that your condition is fit for that at the moment, Anna-Maria." Ah, there it was, that lilt in his voice, the beauty it added to her name.

"Oh, D'arvit my condition!"

"Anna-Maria, I am shocked," he said in mock surprise. "Your language has never been so horrendous."

"I don't care what anyone else says, I'm coming with you to Fowl Manor today, right now."

"Well...alright." She could tell that he had already considered it. "Come on, then, let us go home."

She kissed him. "I love you, Artemis, and I'm an idiot for thinking that I could ever distance myself from you."

"Yes, you are."

"You don't have to agree so readily."

"I love you, too."

**_I think that went well, considering the circumstances. Well, that's over and done with. I think I'm going to be too busy with my own original novels from now on for fanfictions (at least for a few months, odds are six to eight), so now I'm sure many of you will be very glad that you will not be hearing from me in a while (and I say that with complete seriousness, no joke). But in the off chance that any of you want to check out my original writing, send me a PM. I have completed three different novels that I need a few more sets of eyes to look at. Ciao for now!_**


	26. Sorry

**_Okay, this is going to be basically just a huge author's note, so sorry about that. Another thing, sorry if I ever got seriously overprotective on any of you 'cause of a character - I'm working on that and keeping them all in check with the Mary Sue Litmus Test (Good news, everyone from my original novel, For the Love of Humanity, is either an Anti-Sue, a Non-Sue, or a Border-line Sue - and the guy who got that last one is supposed to be like that to annoy the protagonist). And let me tell you something Twilight fans, Edward Cullen is definitely NOT fitting anywhere in those categories (cough cough - Major Sue - explains why everyone thinks he's the perfect guy - 'cause he actually is)._**

**_And, in case any of you were curious about that song Anna-Maria sang at the beach, check out this link /watch?vNiBLBYROX2g or - in case the link doesn't work (or show up at all) - go on youtube and search 'Mera Dil Tera Deewana' and click on the first clip. You'll hear what the song sounds like and see how I borrowed some of the ways in which Anna-Maria aggravated poor Julio and Sunehri. Except Anna-Maria never danced with a guy in a chicken suit. Artemis would have taken pictures or video of it on his laptop if that was the case._**

**_Speaking of Artemis, I can't wait for The Time Paradox to come out! Although I don't get the title yet - and won't till I read the book - What about time is a paradox? A paradox is a literary device that puts two opposite things together - kind of like an oxymoron - but in a way that makes sense, like "bittersweet". Oh, well, got to wait and see, I guess. Too bad I'm so impatient..._**


End file.
